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Podcast title	Jack Benny Show - OTR Podcast!
Website URL	http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co...
Description	The Greatest Show on Earth!
Updated	Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:22:35 GMT
Category	Arts
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Episodes
1. Suspense Saturday - 1949-06-30 Joseph Cotten - The Day I Died - Season Finale http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.54Mb) Description: Joseph Cheshire Cotten (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American actor of stage and film. He was perhaps best known for his collaborations with Orson Welles, which included Citizen Kane, The Third Man, The Magnificent Ambersons and Journey into Fear, which Cotten wrote, and for his work with Alfred Hitchcock in Shadow of a Doubt. He received his start on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair, and became a recognizable Hollywood star in his own right with films such as Shadow of a Doubt and Portrait of Jennie.
2. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast! 1941-12-15 - We Hold These Truths HQ - 150th birthday of the Bill of Rights http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.78Mb) Description: 60 Million people listened to it when it was first broadcast one week after the attack on Pearl Harbor! It's been rarely heard since, so this is one of the shows I am proudest to bring you! Jimmy Stewart and Orson Welles in "We Hold These Truths!"
3. JACK BENNY - War Years 04 - 1941-12-21 - Planning the Christmas Party http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.02Mb) Description:
4. Friday with FDR - Address to Congress Requesting a Declaration of War (December 8, 1941) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.34Mb) Description: A day that will live in infamy!
5. Lum and Abner - War Years 03 - 1941-12-11 Cakes for the cake sale http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 2.53Mb) Description:
6. JACK BENNY - War Years 03 - 1941-12-14 - Christmas Shopping (Horseradish) - scarce often mislabeled episode http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.47Mb) Description: A lot of folks have this episode mislabeled in their collection, or don't have this one at all. It's kind of scarce and not included correctly in most collections.
7. Fred Allen - War Years - 1941-12-10 - Louella Parsons - War News http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.31Mb) Description: Louella Parsons (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie gossip columnist who had her own radio show which featured interviews with Hollywood celebrities.
8. Lum and Abner - War Years 02 - 1941-12-09 Loaves Is Big Business http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 2.46Mb) Description:
9. Lum and Abner - War Years 01 - 1941-12-08 Lum's Prune Bread http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 2.43Mb) Description: Day after Pearl Harbor with Lum and Abner.
10. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy - The War Years 01 - 1941-12-07 Judy Garland - Pearl Harbor http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.77Mb) Description: Another show from the day of the Pearl Harbor attack!
11. JACK BENNY - War Years 02 Podcast - 1941-12-07 - Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.88Mb) Description: The broadcast from the night of the attack on Pearl Harbor!
12. BOB HOPE - The War Years 02 Podcast- 1942-01-20 - Guest - Edward Everett Horton http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.75Mb) Description: Edward Everett Horton (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor with a long career in film, theater, radio, television and voice work for animated cartoons. From 1945 to 1947, Horton hosted radio's Kraft Music Hall. During the 1950s, Horton worked in television. One of his most famous appearances is an I Love Lucy episode, where he is cast against type as a frisky, amorous suitor. (Horton, a last-minute replacement for another actor, received a special, appreciative credit in this episode.) Beginning in 1959 he narrated the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon show. In 1965 he played the medicine man, Roaring Chicken, in the sitcom F Troop. He parodied this role, portraying "Chief Screaming Chicken" on Batman as a pawn to Vincent Price's Egghead in the villain's attempt to take control of Gotham City. His last role, as a moribund tobacco company president in a wheelchair, was in the motion picture Cold Turkey, released after his death.
13. Western Wednsday - Gunsmoke 1959-06-28 (377) Jailbait Janet http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.00Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week, out west, with kind of a scary title! :)
14. Command Performance 1942-03-01 ep001 - Eddie Cantor http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.92Mb) Description: Eddie Cantor appeared on radio as early as February 3, 1922, as indicated by this news item from Connecticut's Bridgeport Telegram: Local radio operators listened to one of the finest programs yet produced over the radiophone last night. The program of entertainment which included some of the stars of Broadway musical comedy and vaudeville was broadcast from the Newark, N. J. station WDY and the Pittsburgh station KDKA, both of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing company. The Newark entertainment started at 7 o'clock: a children's half-hour of music and fairy stories; 7:[35?], Hawaiian airs and violin solo; 8:00, news of the day; and at 8:20 a radio party with nationally known comedians participating; 9:55, Arlington time signals and 10:01, a government weather report. G. E. Nothnagle, who conducts a radiophone station at his home 176 Waldemere Avenue said last night that he was delighted with the program, especially with the numbers sung by Eddie Cantor. The weather conditions are excellent for receiving, he continued, the tone and the quality of the messages was fine. [3] Cantor's appearance with Rudy Vallee on Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour February 5, 1931 led to a four-week tryout with NBC's The Chase and Sanborn Hour. Replacing Maurice Chevalier, who was returning to Paris, Cantor joined The Chase and Sanborn Hour on September 13, 1931. This hour-long Sunday evening variety series teamed Cantor with announcer Jimmy Wallington and violinist Dave Rubinoff. The show established Cantor as a leading comedian, and his scriptwriter, David Freedman, as “the Captain of Comedy.” Cantor soon became the world's highest-paid radio star. His shows began with a crowd chanting, "We want Can-tor, We want Can-tor," a phrase said to have originated when a vaudeville audience chanted to chase off an opening act on the bill before Cantor. Cantor's theme song was the 1903 pop tune "Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider," dedicated to his wife. Indicative of his effect on the mass audience, he agreed in November 1934 to introduce a new song by the songwriters J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie that other well-known artists had rejected as being "silly" and "childish." The song, "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", immediately had orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day. It sold 400,000 copies by Christmas of that year. His NBC radio show, Time to Smile, was broadcast from 1940 to 1946, followed by his Pabst Blue Ribbon Show from 1946 through 1949. He also served as emcee of The $64 Question during 1949-'50, and hosted a weekly disc jockey program for Philip Morris during the 1952-'53 season. In addition to film and radio, Cantor recorded for Hit of the Week Records, then again for Columbia, for Banner and Decca and various small labels. He was a founder of the March of Dimes, and did much to publicize the battle against polio. Cantor also served as first president of the Screen Actors Guild. His heavy political involvement began early in his career, including his quick rush to strike with Actors Equity in 1919, against the advice of father figure and producer, Florenz Ziegfeld. Cantor's career declined somewhat in the late 1930s due to his public denunciations of Adolf Hitler and Fascism. Wishing to distance themselves from any political controversy, many sponsors dropped Cantor's shows (most notably his 1938-'39 series for Camel cigarettes). However, it soon bounced back with the United States' entry into World War II.
15. BOB HOPE - The War Years 01 - 1941-01-28 - Guest - Basil Rathbone http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.28Mb) Description: Our first episode in the summer daily assault of the war years with Bob Hope!
16. JACK BENNY - The War Years 01 - 1941-11-30 - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1).mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.22Mb) Description: One week before the attack on Pearl Harbor! Our first episode in our daily trek through the war years with Jack and the gang!
17. Monday with Martin and Lewis - 1949-06 - Tony Martin http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.26Mb) Description: 60 years ago Tony Martin was the guest. He was a featured vocalist on the George Burns and Gracie Allen radio program. On the show Gracie Allen playfully flirted with Tony, often threatening to fire him. She'd say things like "Oh Tony you look so tired, why don't you rest your lips on mine." In the movies, he was first cast in a number of bit parts, including a role as a sailor in the movie Follow the Fleet (1936), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He eventually signed with 20th Century-Fox and then Metro Goldwyn Mayer in which he starred in a number of musicals. At the same time, between 1938 and 1942, he made a number of hit records for Decca. Martin was featured in the 1941 Marx Brothers film (their last for MGM), The Big Store. In it, he played a singer performing the notorious (to some) "Tenement Symphony", written by Hal Borne who became his long-time musical director.[1] In World War II, he first joined the United States Navy, but as a result of rumors (without any factual basis) that he had gotten an officer's commission through bribery he left the navy and joined the United States Army Air Forces. Though he had an outstanding record in the military, the rumors hurt his professional reputation and the major record labels refused to sign him. He eventually signed with Mercury Records, then a small independent run out of Chicago, Illinois. He cut 25 records in 1946 and 1947 for Mercury, including a 1946 recording of "To Each His Own" which became a million-seller. This prompted RCA Victor records to offer him a contract, which he signed in 1947 after satisfying his contract obligations to Mercury. He appeared in many film musicals in the 1940s and 1950s. His rendition of "Lover Come Back To Me" with Joan Weldon in Deep in My Heart - based on the music of Sigmund Romberg and starring José Ferrer - was one of the highlights of that film.[citation needed] As of 2009, he is still doing live performances. [edit] Singing career today The last of the old Hollywood musical actor-singers still alive, Tony Martin continues to perform on tour today. Two recent performances in New York City took place on October 21, 2007, and October 22, 2007, at Feinstein's at the Regency Hotel. Martin, then 94 years old, got good reviews. He told stories of his days in Hollywood performing alongside iconic names such as Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Judy Garland, Lana Turner and his wife, who was still alive at that time, Cyd Charisse. He then performed noted songs from his career, including: "Begin the Beguine," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "You Stepped Out of A Dream" and "A Foggy Day."[citation needed] After the death of his wife, Cyd Charisse, he chose to call his agent and get back into entertaining. On January 8, 2009, Tony Martin, now 96, returned to the stage at San Francisco's Hotel Nikko in the Rrazz Room to sing many of his hit songs of the motion pictures he had been in.
18. Our Monday with Miss Brooks - 1949-06-19 - Taxidermist http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 26.99Mb) Description: 60 years ago with Miss Brooks!
19. Monday with Mel Blanc - 1947-06-17 - Mel And Benson Compete Tom Cashow At Colbys Market http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.48Mb) Description: Monday with Mel!
20. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) - 1949-06-24 Liz Changes Her Mind http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.40Mb) Description: It's still a woman's prerogative isn't it?
21. Jack Paar Show 1947-06-22 Spoofs on Fan Magazines and Disc Jockeys http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.89Mb) Description: More fun with Jack Paar!
22. Sunday Sermon - 2008-07-06 M Stelle - Set Free http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 16.09Mb) Description: Independence day, what a good day to be set free!
23. Jimmy Stewart Saturday - The Six Shooter 1953-11-15 Escape From Smoke Falls http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.27Mb) Description: Out west with Jimmy!
24. Suspense Saturday HQ 1949-06-23 Ralph Edwards - Ghost Hunt http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.52Mb) Description: Ralph Edwards produced dozens of game shows, including About Faces, Knockout, Place the Face, It Could Be You, Name That Tune (1970s version) and The Cross-Wits. In 1981, with Stu Billett, he executive produced The People's Court, the first program of its type. Edwards is probably best known for creating and hosting This Is Your Life. Each week Edwards would surprise some unsuspecting person (usually a celebrity, sometimes an ordinary citizen) and review the subject's personal and professional life. The show drew great interest from viewers, because the identity of the subject wasn't revealed until the show went live. Throughout the half-hour Edwards would guide the narrative of the show, ushering visitors on and off stage, and eventually prompting the honoree to recall a personal turning point. Edwards was showman enough to draw upon his Truth or Consequences experience: he emphasized the sentimental elements that appealed to viewers and listeners at home. His on-air tributes would often recount some heroic sacrifice or tragic event, bringing the audience (and sometimes the subject) to the point of tears. Edwards burnished the career of another game show host -- his protege, Bob Barker. The TV version of Truth or Consequences had featured Edwards, Jack Bailey and Steve Dunne in the 1940s and 1950s. When the show returned for another NBC run in late 1956, Edwards enlisted Barker, a popular West Coast radio and TV personality. During the 2001 Daytime Emmy Awards, Barker told backstage reporters that Edwards told him to be no one else but himself. Barker would host Truth on NBC until 1965, and later in daily syndication until 1975, by which time he had also taken over a revival of The Price is Right on CBS from 1972 onward. As a result, thanks to Edwards's "be yourself" admonition, Barker became as familiar with a generation of Truth and Price viewers, as earlier fans had with Edwards and original Price host Bill Cullen during the original versions of the shows in the 1950s and 1960s. Until his death, Edwards had lunch with Bob Barker every December 21st at exactly 12:05 PM, according to Bob Barker, for Barker's December birthday, and the anniversary of Edwards hiring Barker as host of Truth or Consequences, which according to Barker, started a long and enduring friendship between the two men.
25. Phriday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye UHQ - 1949-06-26 - Concern About Contract Renewal (Season Finale) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.05Mb) Description: 60 years ago today Phil and Alice had their season finale.
26. Friday with Fibber McGee and Molly UHQ - 1939-06-20-02 - Toothache- Dr Gildersleeve http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 54.79Mb) Description: 70 years ago with Fibber in Ultra High Quality!
27. JACK BENNY PODCAST - 1939-06-25 - Last Show of the Season from Waukegan http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.67Mb) Description: 70 years ago jack went back to his hometown, Waukegan, for his '38-'39 season finale.
28. Western Wednesday HQ - Gunsmoke 1959-06-21 (376) Carmen http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.92Mb) Description: Out west 50 years ago this week!
29. JACK BENNY PODCAST- 1937-06-27 - The Last Show of the Season http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.31Mb) Description: Last show of the '36-'37 season.
30. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) Podcast - 1949-06-17 Television http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.45Mb) Description: Lucy and Television, a great mix!
31. Monday with Mel Blanc Podcast - 1947-06-10 The Chinese Philosopher http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.36Mb) Description: More with Mel Blanc!
32. Our Monday with Miss Brooks - 1949-06-12 Wishing Well Dance http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.35Mb) Description: 60 years ago with Miss Brooks!
33. Monday with Martin and Lewis - 1949-06 Burl Ives http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.66Mb) Description: Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an Academy Award winning American actor, writer and folk music singer. The prominent music critic John Rockwell has been quoted in the New York Times as saying that "Ives's voice... had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-day Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity. And it moved people."
34. Jack Paar Show Podcast 1947-06-01 01 Disagreement in the Shade - guest Dennis Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.62Mb) Description: During World War II, as part of a special services company entertaining troops in the South Pacific, Paar was a clever, wisecracking master of ceremonies. More than once, his pointed jibes at officers nearly got him into trouble. After WWII, he came to the attention of RKO Radio Pictures, which hired him to emcee Variety Time (1948), a compilation of vaudeville sketches. Paar later recalled that RKO didn't know what to do with him. His producers, trying to decide what kind of screen characters he could play, compared Paar with other RKO stars. Finally, according to Paar, one of the executives had an inspiration, and figured out who Jack Paar really was: "Kay Kyser, with warmth." Paar projected a pleasant personality on film, and RKO called him back to emcee another filmed vaudeville show, Footlight Varieties (1951). Paar was featured in a few films, including a role opposite Marilyn Monroe in Love Nest (1951). Like fellow humorists Steve Allen and Henry Morgan, Jack Paar dabbled in motion pictures but was much more comfortable behind a studio microphone, broadcasting. Paar found loyal listeners nationally, beginning as Jack Benny's 1947 summer replacement, then as the 1950-51 host of radio's The $64 Question on NBC. He appeared as a standup comic on The Ed Sullivan Show and hosted two TV game shows, Up To Paar (1952) and Bank on the Stars (1953), before hosting The Morning Show (1954) on CBS. In 1956 he hosted The Jack Paar Show on the ABC Radio network.
35. Sunday Sermon - 2008 -06-29 D Johnson - Unbound http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.09Mb) Description: Wouldn't you like to be unbound from the things that tie you down?
36. Jimmy Stewart Saturday - Silver Theater 1938-10-23 Up from the Darkness Part 1 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.99Mb) Description: It's Saturday time for more Jimmy Stewart.
37. Suspense Saturday HQ Podcast - 1949-06-16 Agnes Moorehead - The Trap http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.84Mb) Description: 60 years ago, Agnes Moorehead kept us in Suspense! In this episode A woman seems to be going crazy, caused by someone trying to force her into taking a long vacation. Agnes Moorehead's early career was unsteady, and although she was able to find stage work she was often unemployed and forced to go hungry. She later recalled going four days without food, and said that it had taught her "the value of a dollar." She found work in radio and was soon in demand, often working on several programs in a single day. She believed that it offered her excellent training and allowed her to develop her voice to create a variety of characterizations. Moorehead met the actress Helen Hayes who encouraged her to try to enter films, but her first attempts were met with failure. Rejected as not being "the right type," Moorehead returned to radio. Moorehead met Orson Welles and by 1937 was a member of his Mercury Theatre Group, along with Joseph Cotten. She appeared in his radio production Julius Caesar, had a regular role in the serial The Shadow as Margo and was one of the players in his The War of the Worlds production. In 1939, Welles moved the Mercury Theatre Group to Hollywood, where he started working for RKO Studios. Several of his radio performers joined him, and Moorehead made her film debut as his mother in Citizen Kane (1941). She also appeared in his films Journey into Fear (1943) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), based on a novel by Booth Tarkington. She received a New York Film Critics Award and an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the latter film. Moorehead played another strong role in The Big Street (1942) with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, and then appeared in two films that failed to find an audience, Government Girl with Olivia de Havilland and The Youngest Profession with Virginia Weidler. By the mid 1940s, Moorehead joined MGM, negotiating a $6,000-a-week contract with the provision to perform also on radio, an unusual clause at the time. Moorehead explained that MGM usually refused to allow their actors to play on radio as "the actors didn't have the knowledge or the taste of the judgment to appear on the right sort of show."[2] In 1943-1944, Moorehead portrayed "matronly housekeeper Mrs. Mullet", who was constantly offering her "candied opinion", in Mutual Radio's The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall; she inaugurated the role on CBS Radio.[3] Moorehead skillfully portrayed puritanical matrons, neurotic spinsters, possessive mothers, and comical secretaries throughout her career. Moorehead was part of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre on the Air radio program in the 1930s and appeared in Broadway productions of Don Juan in Hell in 1951-1952, and Lord Pengo in 1962-1963. She played Parthy Hawks, wife of Cap'n Andy and mother of Magnolia, in MGM's hit 1951 remake of Show Boat. She was in many important films, including Dark Passage and Since You Went Away, either playing key small or large supporting parts. During the 1940s and 1950s, Moorehead was one of the most in demand actresses for radio dramas, especially on the CBS show Suspense. During the 946 epsisodes run of Suspense, Moorehead was cast in more episodes than any other actor or actress. She was often introduced on the show as the "first lady of Suspense". Moorehead's most successful appearance on Suspense was in the legendary play Sorry, Wrong Number, written by Lucille Fletcher, broadcast on May 18, 1943. Moorehead played a selfish, neurotic woman who overhears a murder being plotted via crossed phone wires who eventually realizes she is the intended victim. She recreated the performance six times for Suspense and several times on other radio shows, always using her original, dog-eared script. In 1952, she recorded an album of the drama, and performed scenes from the story in her one-woman show in the 1950s. Sorry, Wrong Number also inspired writers of the CBS television series The Twilight Zone to script an episode with Moorehead in mind.[4] In "The Invaders" (broadcast 27 January 1961) Moorehead played a woman whose isolated farm is plagued by mysterious intruders. In "Sorry, Wrong Number" Moorehead offered a famed, bravura performance using only her voice, and for "The Invaders" she was offered a script where she had no dialogue at all. In the 1960-1961 season, Moorehead made guest appearances as Aunt Harriet in the short-lived CBS sitcom My Sister Eileen starring Shirley Bonne and Elaine Stritch as Eileen (an aspiring actress) and Ruth Sherwood, respectively, two single sisters living in New York City. That same season, she appeared in Pat O'Brien's ABC sitcom Harrigan and Son. In the 1963-1964 season, she appeared in an episode of the ABC series about college life, Channing. In 1967, she portrayed an Indian named Watoma on the ABC military-western series Custer with Wayne Maunder in the title role. As Endora in Bewitched (1965) In 1964, Moorehead accepted the role of Endora, in the situation comedy Bewitched. She later commented that she had not expected it to succeed and that she ultimately felt trapped by its success. However, she had negotiated to appear in only eight of every twelve episodes made, therefore allowing her sufficient time to pursue other projects. She also felt that the television writing was often below standard and dismissed many of the Bewitched scripts as "hack" in a 1965 interview. The role brought her a level of recognition that she had not received before as Bewitched was in the top 10 programs for the first few years it screened. Moorehead received six Emmy Award nominations, but was quick to remind interviewers that she had enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Despite her ambivalence, she remained with Bewitched until its run ended in 1972. She commented to the New York Times in 1974, "I've been in movies and played theater from coast to coast, so I was quite well known before Bewitched, and I don't particularly want to be identified as a witch." Later that year she said that she had enjoyed playing the role, but that it was not challenging and the show itself was "not breathtaking" although her flamboyant and colorful character appealed to children. She expressed a fondness for the show's star, Elizabeth Montgomery, and said that she had enjoyed working with her. Co-star Dick Sargent, who in 1969 replaced the ill Dick York as Samantha's husband, Darrin Stephens, had a more difficult relationship with Moorehead, and described her as "a tough old bird...very self-involved."
38. Friday Fireside Chat 10 - Roosevelt On New Legislation (October 12, 1937) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.48Mb) Description: It seems like what's going on today, again.
39. Friday with Fibber McGee and Molly HQ - 1939-06-13 Advice Column - Aunt Molly http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 54.41Mb) Description: 70 years ago. this was the penultimate episode of the 1938-1939 season.
40. Phriday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye UHQ- 1949-06-19 - Frankie's Foster Son http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.03Mb) Description: 60 years ago today with Phil and Alice recorded in Ultra High Quality sound!
41. JACK BENNY PODCAST - 1939-06-18 - Off to Waukegan http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.59Mb) Description: 70 years ago today was the last episode for Kenny Baker as a regular on Jack's show! Say goodbye to Kenny with this penultimate episode of the 1938 - 1939 season.
42. Judy Garland Theater Thursday - Young America Wants to Help 1941-04-28 Judy Garland & Helen Hayes http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.00Mb) Description: It's Thursday and time for more Judy Garland!
43. Western Wednesday UHQ - Fort Laramie 1956-03-04 07 Shavetail http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.19Mb) Description: Another ultra high sound quality episode of Fort Laramie with Raymond Burr!
44. Western Wednesday HQ - Gunsmoke 1959-06-14 (375) Kitty's Kidnap http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.51Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week out west!
45. Jack Benny Podcast - 1937-06-20 - Eddie Anderson Becomes Rochester - Jack's Movie http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.14Mb) Description: One of my first Podcasts! Eddie Anderson's first time playing the Rochester character by name! He wont appear again as Rochester again for months!
46. Duffys Tavern Tuesday- 1949-06-15 - Bob Crosby Sings to Archie's Girlfriend (Season Finale) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.68Mb) Description: During World War II, Bob Crosby spent 18 months in the Marines, touring with bands in the Pacific. His radio variety series, The Bob Crosby Show, aired on NBC and CBS in different runs between the years 1943 to 1950, followed by Club Fifteen on CBS from 1947 through 1953 and a half-hour CBS daytime series, The Bob Crosby Show (1953-1957). He introduced the Canadian singer Gisele MacKenzie to American audiences and subsequently guest starred in 1957 on her NBC television series, The Gisele MacKenzie Show. On September 14, 1952, Bob replaced Phil Harris as the bandleader on The Jack Benny Program, remaining until Benny retired the radio show in 1955 after 23 years. In joining the show, he became the leader of the same group of musicians who had played under Harris. According to Benny writer Milt Josefsberg, the issue was budget. Because radio had strong competition from TV, the program budget had to be reduced, so Bob replaced Phil. Prior to joining Benny on the radio, Crosby, who was based on the East Coast, would often play with Benny during Benny's live New York appearances, and he was seen frequently throughout the 1950s on Benny's television series. As a performer, Crosby had tremendous charisma and wit combined with a laid back persona. He was able to swap jokes competently with Benny, including humorous references to his brother Bing's wealth and his string of losing racehorses. Crosby was married and had five children, three girls and two boys. The enduring popularity of the Bob Crosby Orchestra and the Bob Cats - whose biography was written by British jazz historian John Chilton, was evident during the frequent reunions in the 1950s and 1960s. Bob Haggart and Yank Lawson organized a band that kept the spirit alive, combining Dixieland and swing with a roster of top soloists. From the late 1960s until the mid-1970s, the group was known as The World's Greatest Jazzband. Since neither leader was happy with that name, they eventually reverted to The Lawson Haggart Jazzband. The Lawson-Haggart group was consistent in keeping the Bob Crosby tradition alive. Bob Crosby died in 1993 due to complications from cancer.[1]
47. Monday with Martin and Lewis - 1949-06-05 Marilyn Maxwell http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.27Mb) Description: Marilyn Maxwell (August 3, 1921 – March 20, 1972), born Marvel Marilyn Maxwell, was an American actress and entertainer. Noted for her blonde hair and sexy persona she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.
48. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) - 1949-06-10 Hair Dyed http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.41Mb) Description: Monday with lovely and loony Lucy!
49. Monday with Mel Blanc - 1947-06-03 Mel And Benson Compete For A Summer Cottage By The Sea http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.64Mb) Description: Monday with Mel!
50. Our Monday with Miss Brooks - 1949-06-05 Keys To The School http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.88Mb) Description: 60 years ago with Miss Brooks!
51. JACK BENNY PODCAST - 1947-05-25 - Allen's Alley with Fred Allen and Jack Paar http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.57Mb) Description: Wow! Three of the greatest monologists ever on the same show, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, and Jack Paar!
52. Suspense Sunday HQ - 1949-06-09 John Lund - The Lunch Kit http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.32Mb) Description: Special Sunday episode of Suspense! John Lund (6 February 1911, Rochester, New York - 10 May 1992, Los Angeles) was an American film actor of Norwegian ancestry who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair (1948), directed by Billy Wilder. In the 1950's he played insurance investigator Johnny Dollar in the popular radio series " Yours Truly ,Johnny Dollar " ( the man with the action packed expense account). The series can be heard at htpp://www.otr.net John Lund's father was a Norwegian immigrant and glassblower. Lund did not finish high school, and he tried several businesses before settling on advertising in the 1930s. He began acting in 1939, appearing on Broadway in William Shakespeare's As You Like It two years later. It was his appearance in the play The Hasty Heart (1945) that got him recognized by Hollywood. His first film was To Each His Own (1946) with Olivia de Havilland for Paramount where he played dual roles. Another notable role in Mitchell Leisen's comedy The Mating Season (1951) costaring Gene Tierney, Miriam Hopkins, and Thelma Ritter. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor started as a leading man in the 1940s but later took on supporting roles in films in the 1950s. He also acted on Broadway and radio. Lund retired to his house in Coldwater Canyon in the Hollywood Hills in 1963 and died of heart problems in 1992.
53. Jimmy Stewart Sunday HQ Podcast - The Six Shooter 1953-11-08 Ep08 The Capture Of Stacy Gault http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.93Mb) Description: A special Sunday with Jimmy Stewart!
54. Sunday Sermon - 2008-06-15 D Johnson - Armed and Dangerous http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 28.67Mb) Description: Armed for battle?
55. Friday Fireside Chat 9 - Roosevelt On Court-Packing (March 9, 1937) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.34Mb) Description: With the Supreme Court in the news quite a lot, this seems timely!
56. Friday with Fibber McGee and Molly in UHQ 1939-06-06 McGee The Wrestler http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 54.24Mb) Description: 70 years ago, Fibber the wrestler, a scary thought!
57. Phriday with Phil Harrris and Alice Faye - 1949-06-12 - The French Orphan http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.13Mb) Description: 60 years ago today with Phil!
58. JACK BENNY PODCAST - 1939-06-11 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 2 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.76Mb) Description: 70 years ago today, more fun with Sherlock Holmes!
59. Judy Garland Theater Thursday Podcast- Lux Radio Theater 1940-10-28 (279) Strike Up The Band http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.79Mb) Description: A musical with Judy Garland, sounds like a good idea to me. Let's get all the kids on the block and put on a show!
60. Western Wednesday HQ Podcast - Gunsmoke 1959-06-07 (374) Doc's Indians http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.92Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week out west!
61. Western Wednesday UHQ - Fort Laramie 1956-02-26 06 Captain's Widow http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.15Mb) Description: High quality sound out west with Raymond Burr at Fort Laramie.
62. JACK BENNY PODCAST - 1937-06-13 - Mary's Movie http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.98Mb) Description: Yes, over 70 years ago Mary Livingstone had a movie. THIS WAY PLEASE (Paramount, 1937), directed by Robert Florey, is an enjoyable little "B" musical noted for its introduction of the radio voices of Mary Livingston (Mrs. Jack Benny), James and Marian Jordan (as Fibber McGee and Molly of Wistful Vista) to the silver screen. Top-billing goes to Charles "Buddy" Rogers, a popular singer in the early days of Paramount musicals, making a possible comeback attempt to recapture those glory days, but in the long run, he is overshadowed by an up-and-coming Betty Grable, only three years away from her achieving popularity with those lighthearted Technicolor musicals for 20th Century-Fox during the World War II years beginning with DOWN ARGENTINE WAY (1940). As for the storyline, Betty Grable plays Jane Morrow, a young girl who applies for a job as a theater usherette, hoping to someday get her big chance performing on the stage. She encounters Brad W. Morgan (Charles "Buddy" Rogers), a matinée idol and singer who is master of ceremonies at the local first run movie house. After taking an interest in her, Brad arranges in giving her a chance with an audition, and in the long run, she attracts much attention while Brad starts to lose his credibility. After Jane becomes engaged to marry Stu Randall (Lee Bowman), with a big wedding ceremony arranged to take place at the movie theater, it will be up to Brad to try to break into the theater to claim her. The musical program features: "This Way Please?/ "Delighted to Meet You" (sung by chorus during opening credits); "This Way Please?" (voiced by Buddy Rogers on a record); "Is It Love or Infatuation?" (sung by Buddy Rogers and chorus); "Delighted to Meet You" (sung and tap danced by Betty Grable); "What This Country Needs is Voom-Boom" (sung and performed in comedic style by Romo Vincent, Jerry Bergen and Wally Vernon as Trumps, Bumps and Mumps); "This Way Please?"/ "Delighted to Meet You" (sung by Mary Livingston); "I'm the Sound Effects Man" (sung by Rufe Davis) and "Is It Love or Infatation? (instrumental during wedding ceremony). While this is a 1930s musical, much of the score, especially "Is It Love or Infatuation" (the big song plug here, particularly one big scene when there are multiple Betty Grable images on the movie screen within a movie screen to help promote her) plays at a slower tempo, giving the impression that this is a 1940s musical during the big band era. The supporting cast includes Porter Hall as S.J. Crawford, the theater manager; Cecil Cunningham as Mrs. Eberhart, his secretary; and unbuckled, Akim Tamiroff seen briefly as a tartar chieftain on the movie screen in the theater; and James Finlayson, a familiar character actor who frequently co-starred in numerous Laurel and Hardy comedies for Hal Roach in the 1930s, appearing as Jim O'Toole, a policeman who is to give Fibber McGee and Molly a ticket for illegally parking their car where it shouldn't be, only to find himself agreeing to let them park on that spot with him minding the car, thanks to Molly. And speaking of character actors, there is Ned Sparks, in his usual droll manner, playing as "Inky" Welles, the "love interest" to Maxine (Mary Livingston), the head usherette, who wants to marry him. Classic television fans will be quick to take notice and recognize Rufe Davis (Floyd Smoot, the train engineer, from the 1960s TV sitcom, PETTICOAT JUNCTION starring Bea Benadaret and Edgar Buchanan), making his movie debut as a radio technician encouraged by Mr. Crawford to sing in front of an open mike, "I'm the Sound Effects Man," and true to his word, comes up with more sound-effect noises, ranging from duck sounds, dog fights, cows and factory whistles, plus much, much more. While THIS WAY PLEASE is no cinematic masterpiece, this "B" musical-comedy, which runs at a swift 72 minutes, is a cinematic boost to the career of the very young Betty Grable. On a final note, the radio personalities of Fibber McGee and Molly would reappear in several likable comedies in the early 1940s for RKO Radio. Other than their one liner exchanges throughout the movie (Molly: "McGee, a man winked at me." McGee: "Ah, we all make mistakes"), the one thing that certainly stands out is Molly's contagious laugher. (**1/2)
63. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) 1949-05-27 Liz In The Hospital http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.13Mb) Description: Lucy in the hospital, it doesn't get much better than that! Remember when she had Little Ricky?
64. Our Monday with Miss Brooks - 1949-05-29 Arguements.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.50Mb) Description: Don't argue with me, just listen to Miss Brooks!
65. Monday with Martin and Lewis 1949-05 -29 Henry Fonda http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.19Mb) Description: 70 years ago Henry Fonda hung out with Dean and Jerry! Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda's subtle, naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of method acting. Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor, and made his Hollywood debut in 1935. Fonda's career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda moved toward both more challenging, darker epics as Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (portraying a villain who kills, among others, a child) and lighter roles in family comedies like Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball. Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity; his family and close friends called him "Hank". In 1999, he was named the sixth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
66. Monday with Mel Blanc 1947-05-27 The French Interior Decorator http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.48Mb) Description: When Mel speaks in his french accent, how can you not have fun?
67. Jack Benny Podcast- 1949-05-29 - Cast Introduced (Season Finale) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.70Mb) Description: 60 years ago this was the season finale of Jack's show!
68. D-Day Podcast - CBD-1944-06-07 NBC1400 - Guiding Light http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.40Mb) Description: The show that has run for 72 years! This episode is 65 years old today! My last D-Day podcast!
69. Episode 289 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.39Mb) Description:
70. Episode 288 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.35Mb) Description:
71. Episode 287 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.43Mb) Description:
72. CBD- 1944-06-07_NBC1115-Vic and Sade http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.42Mb) Description: Vic and Sade from the day after D-Day!
73. Sunday Sermon - CBD-1944-06-07_NBC1445-Hymns Of All Churches http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.45Mb) Description:
74. Complete Broadcast Day CBS 1944-06-06 Part 019 Burns and Allen Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.54Mb) Description: D-Day with Burns and Allen!
75. CBD-440606_NBC2250- Red Skelton http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 2.32Mb) Description: Red Skelton on D-Day.
76. CBD-440606_NBC2215- Bob Hope http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.32Mb) Description: Bob Hope on D-Day.
77. CBD-440606_NBC2200- President Roosevelt D-Day Prayer http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 1.66Mb) Description: The President speaks on D-Day.
78. CBD-440606_NBC2130- Fibber McGee and Molly http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.93Mb) Description: D-Day with Fibber.
79. CBD-440606_NBC2100 - Cross Country Reaction to D-Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.80Mb) Description: NBC's Prime Time on D-Day!
80. D-day2b_64kb http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.27Mb) Description:
81. D-day2a_64kb http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.16Mb) Description:
82. D-day1b_64kb http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.19Mb) Description:
83. D-day1a_64kb http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.30Mb) Description: The beginnings of D-Day coverage in high quality sound.
84. Friday Fireside Chat 29 Podcast - Roosevelt On the Fall of Rome (June 05,1944) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.26Mb) Description: Tonight we begin our special D-Day coverage! This was the chat given by FDR on the eve of D-Day. He will refer to it at the beginning of his D-Day prayer speech, which we sill bring you tomorrrow.
85. Jack Benny Podcast- 1939-06-04 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 1 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.39Mb) Description: 70 years ago this week, Jack Benny was in Scotland Yard with Sherlock Holmes!
86. Screen Guild Theater Thursday Podcast - 1939-06-04 ep022 Tyrone Power and Rosalind Russell - (Season Finale) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.41Mb) Description: 70 years ago today the Screen Guild Theater had it's last episode of the season.
87. Judy Garland Theater Thursday - Screen Guild Theater 390924 (023) Judy Garland, Cary Grant & Mickey Rooney http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.87Mb) Description: Spend some time with Judy, Cary, and Mickey!
88. Western Wednesday UHQ - Fort Laramie 1956-02-19 05 Boredom http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.05Mb) Description: You won't get bored with Raymond Burr!
89. Western Wednesday HQ - Gunsmoke 1959-05-31 (373) The Deserter http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.11Mb) Description: 50 years ago today, with Matt Dillon!
90. Orson Welles Wednesday - 1946-06-28 Bill Stern http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.42Mb) Description: Our last Orson Welles Wednesday for awhile.
91. JACK BENNY - 1937-06-06 - Death at Midnight 2 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.44Mb) Description: More classic Jack and the gang!
92. Hallmark Playhouse - 1949-06-02 050 Paul Lukas - I Like it Here (Season Finale) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.76Mb) Description: 60 years ago today Hallmark Playhouse signed off for the final time of the '48 - '49 season. Paul Lukas (May 26, 1895 – August 15, 1971) was a Hungarian-born Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor. Born Pál Lukács in Budapest, he arrived in Hollywood in 1927 after a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany and Austria where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917. At first, he played elegant, smooth womanizers, but increasingly he became typecast as a villain. In 1933, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He was very busy in the 1930s, appearing in such films as the melodrama Rockabye, the crime caper Grumpy, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, the comedy Ladies in Love, and the drama Dodsworth. He followed William Powell and Basil Rathbone portraying the series detective Philo Vance, a cosmopolitan New Yorker, once in 1935 in The Casino Murder Case, but his major role came in 1943's Watch on the Rhine, when he played a man working against the Nazis (he had played the same role on Broadway in 1941). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. To modern viewers, Paul Lukas is best known for his role as Professor Aronnax in Walt Disney's classic 1954 film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. By that time, however (according to the featurette "The Making of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" on Disc 2 of the Special Edition DVD release), he was, at age 60, suffering from memory problems during the production, apparently leading him to lash out at cast and crew alike. Even fellow Hungarian and friend Peter Lorre was not immune to the abuse.
93. Duffys Tavern Tuesday - 1949-06-01 - Archie Wants to Marry Rich Agatha Pitz http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.52Mb) Description: 6o years ago with Archie and the gang!
94. Scarlet Queen Sunday - 1947-08-07 The White Cargo Act And Ah Sin http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.24Mb) Description: Voyage with the Scarlet Queen if you are a fan of Star Trek or Gunsmoke.
95. Sci-Fi Sunday - X Minus One 1956-04-17 Jaywalker http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.88Mb) Description: If it's Sunday, then it's time for Sci-Fi!
96. Sunday Sermon - 2008-06-01 M Stelle - Before The Table http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 17.07Mb) Description: There is a place for you at the table.
97. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast - Suspense 1951-4-19 -365 - The Rescue (Complete) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.22Mb) Description: Originally broadcast April 19, 1951 on CBS and presented as program 365 in the “Suspense” series on Armed Forces Radio. Jimmy Stewart plays a businessman who is drawn into helping a young woman who says she is being pursued by a doctor that’s trying to kill her. The circulating copies of this show are missing the last ten minutes. (This would lead me to believe that they’re dubbed from a network copy of the show that was given to one of the staff or performers or done as an aircheck on 12″ 78 rpm discs and that one of the discs is missing.) This version of the show is complete - a real treat since this particular episode of “Suspense” has an ending that relies on sound effects and great acting to create a tense climax to the story. The show was dubbed directly from an AFRS vinyl disc. There’s a couple of sections with pops in the disc, but the sound is quite good otherwise.
98. Suspense Saturday HQ - 1949-06-02 Joan Crawford - The Ten Years http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.10Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, Joan Crawford kept us in Suspense!
99. Saturday Screen Directors Palyhouse UHQ 1949-05-29_ep021Fredric March - Trade Winds http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 54.88Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Fredric March was on the playhouse. Fredric March won an Oscar nomination in 1930 for The Royal Family of Broadway, in which he played a role based upon John Barrymore (which he had first played on stage in Los Angeles). He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ), leading to a series of classic films based on stage hits and classic novels like Design for Living (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Les Misérables (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), and as the original Normain Maine A Star is Born (1937), for which he received his third Oscar nomination. March in A Star is Born (1937) March was one of the few actors to resist signing long-term contracts with the studios, and was able to freelance and pick and choose his roles, in the process also avoiding typecasting. He returned to Broadway after a ten year absence in 1937 with a notable flop Yr. Obedient Husband, but after the huge success of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth he focused his work as much on Broadway theatre as often as on Hollywood film, and his screen career was not as prolific as it had been. He won two Best Actor Tony Awards: in 1947 for the play Years Ago, written by Ruth Gordon; and in 1957 for his performance as James Tyrone in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. He also had major successes in A Bell for Adano in 1944 and Gideon in 1961, and played Ibsen's An Enemy of the People on Broadway in 1951. He also starred in such films as I Married a Witch (1942) and Another Part of the Forest (1948) during this period, and won his second Oscar in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives. March also branched out into television, winning Emmy nominations for his third attempt at The Royal Family for the series The Best of Broadway as well as for a television performances as Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge. On March 25, 1954, March co-hosted the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony from New York City, with co-host Donald O'Connor in Los Angeles. March's neighbor in Connecticut, playwright Arthur Miller, was thought to favor March to inaugurate the part of Willy Loman in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman (1949). However, March read the play and turned down the role, whereupon director Elia Kazan cast Lee J. Cobb as Willy, and Arthur Kennedy as one of Willy's sons, Biff Loman, two men that the director had worked with in the film Boomerang (1947). March later regretted turning down the role and finally played Willy Loman in Columbia Pictures's 1951 film version of the play, directed by Laslo Benedek, receiving his fifth-and-final Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award. Perhaps March's greatest late-in-life role was in Inherit the Wind(1960), opposite Spencer Tracy. Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March), right) in Inherit the Wind When March underwent major surgery for prostate cancer in 1970, it seemed his career was over, yet he managed to give one last great performance in The Iceman Cometh (1973), as the complicated Irish bartender, Harry Hope. Coincidentally, co-star Robert Ryan was entering the final stages of lung cancer, so the film was the last for both March and Ryan. March has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1616 Vine Street.
100. Friday Fireside Chat - Roosevelt On Farmers and Laborers (September 06,1936) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.83Mb) Description: Turn up the fire and listen in.
101. Friday with Fred Allen - 1944-04-09 - Reginald Gardiner - Fetlock Bones http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.38Mb) Description: Reginald Gardiner (27 February 1903 - 7 July 1980) was an English-born actor in film and television. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Britain. He made his film debut in 1926 in the silent film The Lodger, by Alfred Hitchcock. Moving to Hollywood, he was cast in numerous roles, often as a British butler. One of his most famous roles was that of Schultz in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. Toward the end of his career, Gardiner made increasing guest appearances on the leading television sitcoms of the 1960s, including Fess Parker's ABC series, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as the lead guest in the episode "Citizen Bellows". His last major role was alongside Phyllis Diller in ABC's The Pruitts of Southampton. He also recorded a curious and eccentric classic called "Trains" which was regularly played on a British radio program called Children's Favourites during the 1950s. This consisted of Gardiner, sounding slightly tipsy, reciting a monologue about steam railway engines (which he claimed were 'livid beasts') and impersonating both the engines themselves and the sound of trains running on the track. This latter he famously characterised as 'diddly-dee, diddly-dum' to mimic the sound pattern as the four pairs of bogie wheels ran over joins between the lengths of track. (A sound no longer heard since welded rail joins were introduced.) "Trains" was released as a 78 and 45 by English Decca Records (F 5278) which remained on catalogue into the 1970s. At the end of the record, Gardiner signs off with "Well folks, that's all: back to the asylum."
102. Phriday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye - 1949-05-29 - The Picnic http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.57Mb) Description: 60 years ago today, Phil and Alice had a picnic. Today in the northwest, 60 years later, it's a great day for a picnic.
103. Friday with Fibber McGee and Molly UHQ - 1939-05-30 Escaped Convicts http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 54.41Mb) Description: 70 years ago this week with Fibber and Molly! Brought to you for the first time in ultra high quality! Huge 57 MB file!
104. JACK BENNY - 1939-05-28 - Alexander Graham Bell http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.74Mb) Description: 70 years ago today! Alexander Graham Bell (3 March 1847 – 2 August 1922) was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work.[1] His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876.[2] In retrospect, Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.[3] Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell became one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.
105. Judy Garland Theater Thursday - Good News 1939-06-29 (079) Guests- Stars From The Wizard Of Oz http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.93Mb) Description: Judy and the cast of OZ!
106. Screen Guild Theater Thursday - 1939-05-28_ep021 A Review With Nelson Eddy http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.28Mb) Description: 70 years ago today, Nelson Eddy was on he Screen Guild! Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 - March 6, 1967) was an American singer and movie star who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. He was one of the first "crossover" stars, a superstar appealing both to shrieking bobby-soxers as well as opera purists, and in his heyday was the highest paid singer in the world.[citation needed] During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned three Gold records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career.
107. Western Wednesday - Gunsmoke 1959-05-24 (372) Wagon Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 11.46Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week, out west with Matt Dillon and Chester!
108. Western Wednesday - Fort Laramie HQ 1956-02-12 The Woman at Horse Creek http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.29Mb) Description: Great sounding episode of one of the best adult westerns ever!
109. Hump day with Bob Hope - 1963-05-29 - NBC Birthday Special http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.94Mb) Description: Quite a bit newer episode than usual!
110. Orson Welles Wednesday - 1946-03-03 Fred Allen http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.55Mb) Description: This week Orson on the Fred Allen Show!
111. JACK BENNY - 1937-05-30 - Death at Midnight 1 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.45Mb) Description: My son loves these spoofs!
112. Hallmark Playhouse - 1949-05-26 Charles Bickford - The Barker http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.76Mb) Description: From 60 years ago today! Charles Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette (1943), The Farmer's Daughter (1947), and Johnny Belinda (1948). Other notable roles include Whirlpool (1948) and A Star is Born (1954).
113. Duffys Tavern Tuesday - 1949-05-25 - Ed Wynn Narrates Archie's Opera http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.84Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Ed Wynn visited Duffys! Although many gag writers later provided material for Ed Wynn's performances in radio, television and movies, it was his proud boast that every line he ever spoke during his early career as a stage performer was written by himself. He hosted a popular radio show, The Fire Chief for most of the 1930s, heard in North America on Tuesday nights, sponsored by Texaco gasoline. Like many former vaudeville performers who turned to radio in the same decade, the stage-trained Wynn insisted on playing for a live studio audience, doing each program as an actual stage show, using visual bits to augment his written material, and in his case, wearing a colorful costume with a red fireman's helmet. He usually bounced his gags off announcer/straight man Graham McNamee; Wynn's customary opening, "Tonight, Graham, the show's gonna be different," became one of the most familiar tag-lines of its time. Sample joke: "Graham, my uncle just bought a new second-handed car... he calls it Baby! I don't know, it won't go anyplace without a rattle!" Wynn was a radio superstar who reprised his radio character in two movies, Follow the Leader (1930) and The Chief (1933). Near the height of his radio fame he founded his own short-lived radio network, the Amalgamated Broadcasting System, which lasted only five weeks in 1933 and nearly destroyed the comedian, according to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, who has written that the failed venture left Wynn deep in debt, divorced, and finally suffering a nervous breakdown. Wynn was offered the title role in MGM's 1939 screen adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, but he turned down the role, as did his Ziegfeld contemporary W. C. Fields. The part finally went to Frank Morgan.
114. Our Monday with Miss Brooks 1949-05-22 Peanuts The Great Dane http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.54Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, great Dane, great Fun!
115. Monday with My Favorite Husband - 1949-05-20 Getting Old http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.94Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, we all loved Lucy.
116. Monday with Martin and Lewis - 1949-05-22 John Garfield http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.66Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, John Garfield was the guest star with Jerry and dean! John Garfield (March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an Academy Award-nominated American actor. Garfield was especially adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. Garfield is acknowledged as the predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Montgomery Clift.
117. Monday with Mel Blanc - 1947-05-20 Mel And Betty Trial Seperation http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.62Mb) Description: More Monday mayhem with Mel!
118. JACK BENNY - 1949-05-22 - The Champion and the Set-Up http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.70Mb) Description: Sunday night with Jack!
119. Sci-Fi Sunday - X Minus One 1956-04-10 Star Bright http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.85Mb) Description: Sunday time for some Sci-Fi!
120. Scarlet Queen Sunday - 1947-07-31 The Lily In The Chimoipo Bar http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.29Mb) Description: It's Sunday time to sail on a voyage with the Scarlet Queen!
121. Sunday Sermon - 2008-04-27 M Stelle - Loved http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.23Mb) Description: You are loved, do you show God's love to others?
122. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast - The Six Shooter1953-10-25 Red Lawsons Revenge http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.76Mb) Description: More Six Shooter action with Jimmy Stewart!
123. Saturday Screen Directors Playhouse HQ - 1949-05-22 Lucille Ball and Elliot Lewis - Her Husbands Affair http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 17.10Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Lucy was on the playhouse!
124. Suspense Saturday - 1949-05-26 Fredric March - The Night Reveals http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.93Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Fredric March kept us in suspense. Fredric March won an Oscar nomination in 1930 for The Royal Family of Broadway, in which he played a role based upon John Barrymore (which he had first played on stage in Los Angeles). He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ), leading to a series of classic films based on stage hits and classic novels like Design for Living (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Les Misérables (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), and as the original Normain Maine A Star is Born (1937), for which he received his third Oscar nomination. March in A Star is Born (1937) March was one of the few actors to resist signing long-term contracts with the studios, and was able to freelance and pick and choose his roles, in the process also avoiding typecasting. He returned to Broadway after a ten year absence in 1937 with a notable flop Yr. Obedient Husband, but after the huge success of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth he focused his work as much on Broadway theatre as often as on Hollywood film, and his screen career was not as prolific as it had been. He won two Best Actor Tony Awards: in 1947 for the play Years Ago, written by Ruth Gordon; and in 1957 for his performance as James Tyrone in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. He also had major successes in A Bell for Adano in 1944 and Gideon in 1961, and played Ibsen's An Enemy of the People on Broadway in 1951. He also starred in such films as I Married a Witch (1942) and Another Part of the Forest (1948) during this period, and won his second Oscar in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives. March also branched out into television, winning Emmy nominations for his third attempt at The Royal Family for the series The Best of Broadway as well as for a television performances as Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge. On March 25, 1954, March co-hosted the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony from New York City, with co-host Donald O'Connor in Los Angeles. March's neighbor in Connecticut, playwright Arthur Miller, was thought to favor March to inaugurate the part of Willy Loman in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman (1949). However, March read the play and turned down the role, whereupon director Elia Kazan cast Lee J. Cobb as Willy, and Arthur Kennedy as one of Willy's sons, Biff Loman, two men that the director had worked with in the film Boomerang (1947). March later regretted turning down the role and finally played Willy Loman in Columbia Pictures's 1951 film version of the play, directed by Laslo Benedek, receiving his fifth-and-final Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award. Perhaps March's greatest late-in-life role was in Inherit the Wind(1960), opposite Spencer Tracy. Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March), right) in Inherit the Wind When March underwent major surgery for prostate cancer in 1970, it seemed his career was over, yet he managed to give one last great performance in The Iceman Cometh (1973), as the complicated Irish bartender, Harry Hope. Coincidentally, co-star Robert Ryan was entering the final stages of lung cancer, so the film was the last for both March and Ryan. March has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1616 Vine Street.
125. Friday with Fred Allen - 1944-04-03 - Oscar Levant - AFRS http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.77Mb) Description: Oscar Levant returns!
126. Friday with Fibber McGee and Molly HQ - 1939-05-23 The Stork http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 17.08Mb) Description: 70 years ago,was Molly pregnant?
127. Friday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye - 1949-05-22 - Phil's Boat http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.13Mb) Description: 60 years ago today, boating with Phil, what could possibly go wrong?
128. JACK BENNY - 1939-05-21 - Gunga Din 2 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.77Mb) Description: 70 years ago, continuing our Gunga Din saga!
129. JACK BENNY - 1937-05-23 - Jack Is Sick - Phil, Kenny and Don Host http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.12Mb) Description: interestingly different episode!
130. JACK BENNY - 1949-05-15 - Mary is Sick. http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.09Mb) Description: 60 years ago Mary was sick.
131. Sunday Sermon - 2008-05-04 D Johnson - Masterpiece http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.03Mb) Description: Listen to the Masterpiece!
132. Suspense Saturday Podcast - 1949-05-19 James Stewart- Consequence http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 29.83Mb) Description: 60 years ago Jimmy Stewart kept us in Suspense!
133. Saturday Screen Directors Playhouse HQ Podcast - 1949-05-08 James Stewart - Its a Wonderful Life http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.17Mb) Description: 60 years ago Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra were on the Playhouse!
134. Friday with Fred Allen - 1944-04-02 Jack Haley Radio vs TV http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.50Mb) Description: Jack Haley (August 10, 1898 – June 6, 1979) (born John Joseph Haley, Jr.) was an American film actor best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. He also portrayed farmworker Hickory, who appeared in the Kansas sequences, in the film.
135. JACK BENNY - 1939-05-14 - Gunga Din 1 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.78Mb) Description: 70 years ago this week.
136. Jimmy Stewart Saturday - The Six Shooter 1953-07-15 Audition Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.74Mb) Description: Hear Jimmy Stewart sell nothingness, and tell us about the six shooter.
137. JACK BENNY - 1939-05-07 - The Kentucky Derby http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.80Mb) Description: 70 years ago today, at the Kentucky Derby!
138. Western Wednesday HQ Podcast- Gunsmoke 1959-05-03 (369) Unwanted Deputy http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 17.20Mb) Description: Very Special Podcast with Great intros by me, Jimmy Stewart, and William Conrad! 50 years ago this week, not to be missed, introduction to the eighth season of Gunsmoke!
139. Western Wednesday HQ - Fort Laramie 1956-01-29 ep02 The Boatwright's Story http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 27.22Mb) Description: Another fantastic sounding western story in high quality 128/44!
140. Orson Welles Wednesday Podcast - 1945-10-21 Request Performance http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.85Mb) Description: Another Wednesday, another Welles performance!
141. Humpday with Bob Hope Podcast - 1942-05-05 Claudette Colbert - Great Lakes Naval Training Station http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.92Mb) Description: Claudette Colbert (IPA: /koʊlˈbɛɹ/; September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was a French-born American stage and film actress. Born in Saint-Mandé, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures. She established a successful film career with Paramount Pictures and later, as a freelance performer, became one of the highest paid entertainers in American cinema. Colbert was recognized as one of the leading female exponents of screwball comedy, but was also known for her versatility; she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her comedic performance in It Happened One Night (1934), and also received Academy Award nominations for her dramatic roles in Private Worlds (1935) and Since You Went Away (1944). Her film career began to decline in the 1950s, and she made her last film in 1961. She continued to act extensively in theater and briefly television during her later years. After a career of more than 60 years, Colbert retired to her home in Barbados, where she died at the age of 92, following a series of strokes. Colbert received theatre awards from the Sarah Siddons Society and also received lifetime achievement awards from Kennedy Center Honors, and in 1999, the American Film Institute placed her at number 12 on their "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars" list of the "50 Greatest American Screen Legends
142. Jack Benny Podcast - 1937-05-09 - Mother's Day Program! http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.19Mb) Description: Happy Mother's Day, Mary, from Jack, a little early!
143. Monday with Martin and Lewis HQ Podcast - 1949-05-01 Madeleine Carroll http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.73Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, and they are back with Madeleine Carroll. Widely recognized as one of the most beautiful women in films, Carroll's aristocratic blonde allure and sophisticated style were first glimpsed by British movie audiences in The Guns of Loos in 1928. Rapidly rising to stardom in England, she graced such popular films of the early '30s as Young Woodley, Atlantic, The School for Scandal and I Was A Spy. Abruptly, she announced plans to retire from films to devote herself to a private life with her husband, the first of four. She attracted the attention of Alfred Hitchcock and, in 1935, starred as one of the director's earliest prototypical cool, glib, intelligent blondes in The 39 Steps based on the espionage novel by John Buchan. The film became a sensation and with it, so did Carroll. Cited by the New York Times for a performance that was "charming and skillful",[citation needed] Carroll became very much in demand thanks, in part, to director Hitchcock, who later admitted that he worked very hard with her to bring out the vivacious and sexy qualities she possessed offscreen, but which sometimes vanished when cameras rolled.[citation needed] Of Hitchcock's heroines, as exemplified by Carroll, film critic Roger Ebert once wrote that they "reflected the same qualities over and over again: They were blonde. They were icy and remote. They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly combined fashion with fetishism. They mesmerized the men, who often had physical or psychological handicaps."[citation needed] The director wanted to re-team Carroll with her 39 Steps co-star Robert Donat the following year in Secret Agent, a spy thriller based on a work by W. Somerset Maugham. However, Donat's recurring health problems prevented him from accepting the role and, instead, Hitchcock paired Carroll with John Gielgud. Poised for international stardom, Carroll was the first British beauty to be offered a major American film contract; she accepted a lucrative deal with Paramount Pictures. She starred opposite Gary Cooper in the adventure The General Died at Dawn and with Ronald Colman in the 1937 box-office success The Prisoner of Zenda. She tried a big musical On The Avenue (1937) opposite Dick Powell, but others of her films, including One Night in Lisbon (1941), and My Favorite Blonde (1942) with Bob Hope, were less prestigious. She made her final film for director Otto Preminger, The Fan, adapted from Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, in 1949. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Madeleine Carroll has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6707 Hollywood Blvd. A commemorative monument and plaques were unveiled in her birthplace, West Bromwich, to mark the centenary of her birth.
144. JACK BENNY PODCAST- 1949-05-01 - The Treasure of Sierra Madre http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.68Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Jack was in the desert! The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is John Huston's 1948 American feature film adaptation of B. Traven's 1927 novel of the same name, in which two American down-and-outers (Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt) in 1920s Mexico hook up with an old-timer (Walter Huston, the director's father) to prospect for gold. The old-timer accurately predicts trouble, but is willing to go anyway. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was one of the first Hollywood films to be shot almost entirely on location outside the United States (in Tampico, Mexico), although the night scenes were filmed back in the studio. The film is quite faithful to the novel.
145. Sunday Sermon - 1984-4-22 John Bergman - Mary what makes you weep http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.30Mb) Description: Why does Mary weep? Our last Sermon by John Bergman for awhile, enjoy!
146. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast - Lux Radio Theater 1937-06-14 Madame X http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.95Mb) Description: Jimmy Stewart on his first Lux Theater show!
147. Saturday Screen Directors Playhouse HQ Podcast - 1949-05-01 Ray Milland - The Trouble with Women http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 22.33Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Ray Milland was in the Playhouse! Ray Milland (January 3, 1907 – March 10, 1986) was a Welsh-born American actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best-remembered for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend (1945).
148. Suspense Saturday Podcast! 1949-05-05 Bob Hope and William Conrad - Death Has A Shadow http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.00Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Bob Hope and William Conrad (Marshall Matt Dillon) kept us in Suspense. How can you miss these two legends together?
149. Friday with Fred Allen Podcast- 1944-01-09 - Ed Gardner - Hit by a Beer Barrel http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.07Mb) Description: Duffys Tavern meets Allens Alley!
150. Friday FDR Fireside Chat 7 HQ - 1935-04-28 Roosevelt On the Works Relief Program and Social Security Act http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.30Mb) Description: Wow! 75 years ago this week! Spend some time with FDR!
151. JACK BENNY PODCAST - 1937-10-24 - Jack Buys the Maxwell http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.33Mb) Description: So how did jack get the Maxwell in the first place? Like this!
152. Monday with Mel Blanc Podcast - 1947-04-29 James Mason Gets Mels Role In A Play http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.82Mb) Description: Mel does a ton of impressions in this episode including James Mason. James Mason had quite a film career. From 1935 to 1948 he starred in many British quota quickies. A conscientious objector during World War II (something which caused his family to break with him for many years), he became immensely popular for his brooding anti-heroes in the Gainsborough series of melodramas of the 1940s, including The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady. He also starred with Deborah Kerr and Robert Newton in 1942's Hatter's Castle. Mason starred in the critically acclaimed and immensely popular The Seventh Veil that set box office records in postwar Britain and catapulted him to international film stardom. In 1949, he made his first Hollywood film, Caught, and then went on to star in many more feature films and early TV shows. Nominated three times for an Oscar, he never won one. Mason's distinctive voice enabled him to play a menacing villain as greatly as his good looks assisted him as a leading man. His roles include the declining actor in the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, a mortally wounded Irish revolutionary in Odd Man Out, Brutus in Julius Caesar, General Erwin Rommel twice—in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, and in The Desert Rats—Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a small town school teacher driven insane by the effects of Cortisone in Bigger Than Life, a suave master spy in North by Northwest, a determined explorer in Journey to the Center of the Earth, Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, a hired assassin sent to kill Peter O'Toole and thereby prevent him from leading a peasant uprising in Lord Jim, the vampire's servant, Richard Straker, in Salem's Lot, and a surreal pirate-ship captain in Yellowbeard. One of his last roles, that of corrupt lawyer James Concannon in The Verdict, earned him his third and final Oscar nomination. Mason was once considered to play James Bond in a 1958 TV adaptation of From Russia with Love, which was ultimately never produced. Despite being in his fifties, he was still under consideration to play Bond in Dr. No before Sean Connery was cast. He was also approached to appear as Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker, however, he turned this down despite his renowned tendency to take any job offered him – which led to appearances in films such as The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go, Bloodline and Hunt the Man Down. His final screen-work was playing the lead role in Dr Fischer of Geneva (adapted from the Graham Greene novel of the same title) as the eccentric wealthy businessman who played games with the Swiss upper class, such as offering gifts to his guests on the proviso they accepted some humiliating ritual activity (such as wearing a child's bib at the dinner table). Throughout his career, Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry and he is now regarded as one of the finest film actors of the 20th century. In the late 1970s, Mason became a mentor to up-and-coming actor Sam Neill. Late in life, he served as narrator for a British television series on the films of Charlie Chaplin, Unknown Chaplin, which was aired in the U.S. on PBS and later issued on home video
153. Sunday Sermon - 1984-4-15 - John Bergman - Two Thieves http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.19Mb) Description: Why do two thieves get to spend the last moments with Christ?
154. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast - The Six Shooter 1953-10-18 Ep05 Rink Larkin http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.17Mb) Description: Out west with Jimmy Stewart as The Six Shooter.
155. Saturday Screen Directors Playhouse HQ Podcast - 1949-04-24 ep016 Fred Astaire-The Skys the Limit http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 18.06Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Fred Astaire was in the Playhouse! Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987)[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of seventy-six years, during which he made thirty-one musical films. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films. According to another major innovator in filmed dance, Gene Kelly, "The history of dance on film begins with Astaire." Beyond film and television, many classical dancers and choreographers, Nureyev and Robbins among them, also acknowledged his importance and influence. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
156. Suspense Saturday Podcast - 1949-04-28 Mickey Rooney - The Lie http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.90Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Mickey Rooney kept us in Suspense!
157. Friday FDR Fireside Chat 6 HQ! 1934-09-30 Roosevelt On Government and Capitalism http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.51Mb) Description: Sorry we had to skip a few chats, but I couldn't find them in anything but horrible quality, so here is the next good quality one I could find.
158. Friday with Fibber McGee and Molly HQ Podcast! 1939-04-25 McGee Gets Glasses.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.41Mb) Description: 70 years ago this week with Fibber and Molly!
159. Sunday Sermon - 1993-4-18 - John Bergman- I've got a second home.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.12Mb) Description: John Bergman's first sermon back at Newport Covenant Church, Bellevue, WA. after recovering from cardiac death and open heart surgery 6 weeks prior.
160. Jimmy Stewart Saturday! Silver Theater - 1937-10-24_ep004- Jimmy Stewart - First Love Part 4 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.24Mb) Description: The last part in this early Jimmy Stewart classic!
161. Friday FDR Fireside Chat Podcast! 1933-05-07 Roosevelt On Progress During the First Two Months http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 32.16Mb) Description: On a Sunday night a week after my Inauguration I used the radio to tell you about the banking crisis and the measures we were taking to meet it. I think that in that way I made clear to the country various facts that might otherwise have been misunderstood and in general provided a means of understanding which did much to restore confidence. Tonight, eight weeks later, I come for the second time to give you my report -- in the same spirit and by the same means to tell you about what we have been doing and what we are planning to do. Two months ago we were facing serious problems. The country was dying by inches. It was dying because trade and commerce had declined to dangerously low levels; prices for basic commodities were such as to destroy the value of the assets of national institutions such as banks, savings banks, insurance companies, and others. These institutions, because of their great needs, were foreclosing mortgages, calling loans, refusing credit. Thus there was actually in process of destruction the property of millions of people who had borrowed money on that property in terms of dollars which had had an entirely different value from the level of March, 1933. That situation in that crisis did not call for any complicated consideration of economic panaceas or fancy plans. We were faced by a condition and not a theory. There were just two alternatives: The first was to allow the foreclosures to continue, credit to be withheld and money to go into hiding, and thus forcing liquidation and bankruptcy of banks, railroads and insurance companies and a recapitalizing of all business and all property on a lower level. This alternative meant a continuation of what is loosely called "deflation", the net result of which would have been extraordinary hardship on all property owners and, incidentally, extraordinary hardships on all persons working for wages through an increase in unemployment and a further reduction of the wage scale. It is easy to see that the result of this course would have not only economic effects of a very serious nature but social results that might bring incalculable harm. Even before I was inaugurated I came to the conclusion that such a policy was too much to ask the American people to bear. It involved not only a further loss of homes, farms, savings and wages but also a loss of spiritual values -- the loss of that sense of security for the present and the future so necessary to the peace and contentment of the individual and of his family. When you destroy these things you will find it difficult to establish confidence of any sort in the future. It was clear that mere appeals from Washington for confidence and the mere lending of more money to shaky institutions could not stop this downward course. A prompt program applied as quickly as possible seemed to me not only justified but imperative to our national security. The Congress, and when I say Congress I mean the members of both political parties, fully understood this and gave me generous and intelligent support. The members of Congress realized that the methods of normal times had to be replaced in the emergency by measures which were suited to the serious and pressing requirements of the moment. There was no actual surrender of power, Congress still retained its constitutional authority and no one has the slightest desire to change the balance of these powers. The function of Congress is to decide what has to be done and to select the appropriate agency to carry out its will. This policy it has strictly adhered to. The only thing that has been happening has been to designate the President as the agency to carry out certain of the purposes of the Congress. This was constitutional and in keeping with the past American tradition. The legislation which has been passed or in the process of enactment can properly be considered as part of a well-grounded plan. First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have dependents, to go into the forestry and flood prevention work. This is a big task because it means feeding, clothing and caring for nearly twice as many men as we have in the regular army itself. In creating this civilian conservation corps we are killing two birds with one stone. We are clearly enhancing the value of our natural resources and second, we are relieving an appreciable amount of actual distress. This great group of men have entered upon their work on a purely voluntary basis, no military training is involved and we are conserving not only our natural resources but our human resources. One of the great values to this work is the fact that it is direct and requires the intervention of very little machinery. Second, I have requested the Congress and have secured action upon a proposal to put the great properties owned by our Government at Muscle Shoals to work after long years of wasteful inaction, and with this a broad plan for the improvement of a vast area in the Tennessee Valley. It will add to the comfort and happiness of hundreds of thousands of people and the incident benefits will reach the entire nation. Next, the Congress is about to pass legislation that will greatly ease the mortgage distress among the farmers and the home owners of the nation, by providing for the easing of the burden of debt now bearing so heavily upon millions of our people. Our next step in seeking immediate relief is a grant of half a billion dollars to help the states, counties and municipalities in their duty to care for those who need direct and Immediate relief. The Congress also passed legislation authorizing the sale of beer in such states as desired. This has already resulted in considerable reemployment and, incidentally, has provided much needed tax revenue. We are planning to ask the Congress for legislation to enable the Government to undertake public works, thus stimulating directly and indirectly the employment of many others in well-considered projects. Further legislation has been taken up which goes much more fundamentally into our economic problems. The Farm Relief Bill seeks by the use of several methods, alone or together, to bring about an increased return to farmers for their major farm products, seeking at the same time to prevent in the days to come disastrous over-production which so often in the past has kept farm commodity prices far below a reasonable return. This measure provides wide powers for emergencies. The extent of its use will depend entirely upon what the future has in store. Well-considered and conservative measures will likewise be proposed which will attempt to give to the industrial workers of the country a more fair wage return, prevent cut-throat competition and unduly long hours for labor, and at the same time to encourage each industry to prevent over-production. Our Railroad Bill falls into the same class because it seeks to provide and make certain definite planning by the railroads themselves, with the assistance of the Government, to eliminate the duplication and waste that is now resulting in railroad receiverships and continuing operating deficits. I am certain that the people of this country understand and approve the broad purposes behind these new governmental policies relating to agriculture and industry and transportation. We found ourselves faced with more agricultural products than we could possibly consume ourselves and surpluses which other nations did not have the cash to buy from us except at prices ruinously low. We have found our factories able to turn out more goods than we could possibly consume, and at the same time we were faced with a falling export demand. We found ourselves with more facilities to transport goods and crops than there were goods and crops to be transported. All of this has been caused in large part by a complete lack of planning and a complete failure to understand the danger signals that have been flying ever since the close of the World War. The people of this country have been erroneously encouraged to believe that they could keep on increasing the output of farm and factory indefinitely and that some magician would find ways and means for that increased output to be consumed with reasonable profit to the producer. Today we have reason to believe that things are a little better than they were two months ago. Industry has picked up, railroads are carrying more freight, farm prices are better, but I am not going to indulge in issuing proclamations of over enthusiastic assurance. We cannot bally-ho ourselves back to prosperity. I am going to be honest at all times with the people of the country. I do not want the people of this country to take the foolish course of letting this improvement come back on another speculative wave. I do not want the people to believe that because of unjustified optimism we can resume the ruinous practice of increasing our crop output and our factory output in the hope that a kind providence will find buyers at high prices. Such a course may bring us immediate and false prosperity but it will be the kind of prosperity that will lead us into another tailspin. It is wholly wrong to call the measure that we have taken Government control of farming, control of industry, and control of transportation. It is rather a partnership between Government and farming and industry and transportation, not partnership in profits, for the profits would still go to the citizens, but rather a partnership in planning and partnership to see that the plans are carried out. Let me illustrate with an example. Take the cotton goods industry. It is probably true that ninety per cent of the cotton manufacturers would agree to eliminate starvation wages, would agree to stop long hours of employment, would agree to stop child labor, would agree to prevent an overproduction that would result in unsalable surpluses. But, what good is such an agreement if the other ten per cent of cotton manufacturers pay starvation wages, require long hours, employ children in their mills and turn out burdensome surpluses? The unfair ten per cent could produce goods so cheaply that the fair ninety per cent would be compelled to meet the unfair conditions. Here is where government comes in. Government ought to have the right and will have the right, after surveying and planning for an industry to prevent, with the assistance of the overwhelming majority of that industry, unfair practice and to enforce this agreement by the authority of government. The so-called anti-trust laws were intended to prevent the creation of monopolies and to forbid unreasonable profits to those monopolies. That purpose of the anti-trust laws must be continued, but these laws were never intended to encourage the kind of unfair competition that results in long hours, starvation wages and overproduction. The same principle applies to farm products and to transportation and every other field of organized private industry. We are working toward a definite goal, which is to prevent the return of conditions which came very close to destroying what we call modern civilization. The actual accomplishment of our purpose cannot be attained in a day. Our policies are wholly within purposes for which our American Constitutional Government was established 150 years ago. I know that the people of this country will understand this and will also understand the spirit in which we are undertaking this policy. I do not deny that we may make mistakes of procedure as we carry out the policy. I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average, not only for myself but for the team. Theodore Roosevelt once said to me: "If I can be right 75 percent of the time I shall come up to the fullest measure of my hopes." Much has been said of late about Federal finances and inflation, the gold standard, etc. Let me make the facts very simple and my policy very clear. In the first place, government credit and government currency are really one and the same thing. Behind government bonds there is only a promise to pay. Behind government currency we have, in addition to the promise to pay, a reserve of gold and a small reserve of silver. In this connection it is worth while remembering that in the past the government has agreed to redeem nearly thirty billions of its debts and its currency in gold, and private corporations in this country have agreed to redeem another sixty or seventy billions of securities and mortgages in gold. The government and private corporations were making these agreements when they knew full well that all of the gold in the United States amounted to only between three and four billions and that all of the gold in all of the world amounted to only about eleven billions. If the holders of these promises to pay started in to demand gold the first comers would get gold for a few days and they would amount to about one twenty-fifth of the holders of the securities and the currency. The other twenty-four people out of twenty-five, who did not happen to be at the top of the line, would be told politely that there was no more gold left. We have decided to treat all twenty-five in the same way in the interest of justice and the exercise of the constitutional powers of this government. We have placed every one on the same basis in order that the general good may be preserved. Nevertheless, gold, and to a partial extent silver, are perfectly good bases for currency and that is why I decided not to let any of the gold now in the country go out of it. A series of conditions arose three weeks ago which very readily might have meant, first,a drain on our gold by foreign countries, and secondly, as a result of that, a flight of American capital, in the form of gold, out of our country. It is not exaggerating the possibility to tell you that such an occurrence might well have taken from us the major part of our gold reserve and resulted in such a further weakening of our government and private credit as to bring on actual panic conditions and the complete stoppage of the wheels of industry. The Administration has the definite objective of raising commodity prices to such an extent that those who have borrowed money will, on the average, be able to repay that money in the same kind of dollar which they borrowed. We do not seek to let them get such a cheap dollar that they will be able to pay bock a great deal less than they borrowed. In other words, we seek to correct a wrong and not to create another wrong in the opposite direction. That is why powers are being given to the Administration to provide, if necessary, for an enlargement of credit, in order to correct the existing wrong. These powers will be used when, as, and if it may be necessary to accomplish the purpose. Hand in hand with the domestic situation which, of course, is our first concern, is the world situation, and I want to emphasize to you that the domestic situation is inevitably and deeply tied in with the conditions in all of the other nations of the world. In other words, we can get, in all probability, a fair measure of prosperity return in the United States, but it will not be permanent unless we get a return to prosperity all over the world. In the conferences which we have held and are holding with the leaders of other nations, we are seeking four great objectives. First, a general reduction of armaments and through this the removal of the fear of invasion and armed attack, and, at the same time, a reduction in armament costs, in order to help in the balancing of government budgets and the reduction of taxation. Secondly, a cutting down of the trade barriers, in order to re-start the flow of exchange of crops and goods between nations. Third, the setting up of a stabilization of currencies, in order that trade can make contracts ahead. Fourth, the reestablishment of friendly relations and greater confidence between all nations. Our foreign visitors these past three weeks have responded to these purposes in a very helpful way. All of the Nations have suffered alike in this great depression. They have all reached the conclusion that each can best be helped by the common action of all. It is in this spirit that our visitors have met with us and discussed our common problems. The international conference that lies before us must succeed. The future of the world demands it and we have each of us pledged ourselves to the best Joint efforts to this end. To you, the people of this country, all of us, the Members of the Congress and the members of this Administration owe a profound debt of gratitude. Throughout the depression you have been patient. You have granted us wide powers, you have encouraged us with a wide-spread approval of our purposes. Every ounce of strength and every resource at our command we have devoted to the end of justifying your confidence. We are encouraged to believe that a wise and sensible beginning has been made. In the present spirit of mutual confidence and mutual encouragement we go forward.
162. Friday with Fred Allen Podcast! 1943-05-23 George Jessel - Freds Biography http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.13Mb) Description: George Jessel (3 April 1898 – 23 May 1981) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies. He was widely known by his nickname, the "Toastmaster General of the United States" for his frequent role as the master of ceremonies at political and entertainment gatherings.
163. Sunday Sermon! 2008-03-23 D Johnson Easter Service http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.10Mb) Description: Happy Easter!
164. Jimmy Stewart Saturday! Six Shooter 1953-10-11 Ep04 Silver Annie http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.11Mb) Description: Out west with Jimmy Stewart!
165. Friday FDR Fireside Chat! 1933-03-12 ep01 Roosevelt On The Banking Crisis http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.74Mb) Description: The first Fireside Chat! I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking—with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking but more particularly with the overwhelming majority who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks. I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from State Capitols and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations, etc., couched for the most part in banking and legal terms should be explained for the benefit of the average citizen. I owe this in particular because of the fortitude and good temper with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and hardships of the banking holiday. I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and help during the past week. First of all let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit-bonds, commercial paper, mortgages and many other kinds of loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and of agriculture turning around. A comparatively small part of the money you put into the bank is kept in currency—an amount which in normal times is wholly sufficient to cover the cash needs of the average citizen. In other words the total amount of all the currency in the country is only a small fraction of the total deposits in all of the banks. What, then, happened during the last few days of February and the first few days of March? Because of undermined confidence on the part of the public, there was a general rush by a large portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold. A rush so great that the soundest banks could not get enough currency to meet the demand. The reason for this was that on the spur of the moment it was, of course, impossible to sell perfectly sound assets of a bank and convert them into cash except at panic prices far below their real value. By the afternoon of March 3 scarcely a bank in the country was open to do business. Proclamations temporarily closing them in whole or in part had been issued by the Governors in almost all the states. It was then that I issued the proclamation providing for the nation-wide bank holiday, and this was the first step in the Government's reconstruction of our financial and economic fabric. The second step was the legislation promptly and patriotically passed by the Congress confirming my proclamation and broadening my powers so that it became possible in view of the requirement of time to entend (sic) the holiday and lift the ban of that holiday gradually. This law also gave authority to develop a program of rehabilitation of our banking facilities. I want to tell our citizens in every part of the Nation that the national Congress -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- showed by this action a devotion to public welfare and a realization of the emergency and the necessity for speed that it is difficult to match in our history. The third stage has been the series of regulations permitting the banks to continue their functions to take care of the distribution of food and household necessities and the payment of payrolls. This bank holiday while resulting in many cases in great inconvenience is affording us the opportunity to supply the currency necessary to meet the situation. No sound bank is a dollar worse off than it was when it closed its doors last Monday. Neither is any bank which may turn out not to be in a position for immediate opening. The new law allows the twelve Federal Reserve banks to issue additional currency on good assets and thus the banks that reopen will be able to meet every legitimate call. The new currency is being sent out by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in large volume to every part of the country. It is sound currency because it is backed by actual, good assets. A question you will ask is this—why are all the banks not to be reopened at the same time? The answer is simple. Your Government does not intend that the history of the past few years shall be repeated. WE do not want and will not have another epidemic of bank failures. As a result we start tomorrow, Monday, with the opening of banks in the twelve Federal Reserve Bank cities—those banks which on first examination by the Treasury have already been found to be all right. This will be followed on Tuesday by the resumption of all their functions by banks already found to be sound in cities where there are recognized clearinghouses. That means about 250 cities of the United States. On Wednesday and succeeding days banks in smaller places all through the country will resume business, subject, of course, to the Government's physical ability to complete its survey. It is necessary that the reopening of banks be extended over a period in order to permit the banks to make applications for necessary loans, to obtain currency needed to meet their requirements and to enable the Government to make common sense checkups. Let me make it clear to you that if your bank does not open the first day you are by no means justified in believing that it will not open. A bank that opens on one of the subsequent days is in exactly the same status as the bank that opens tomorrow. I know that many people are worrying about State banks not members of the Federal Reserve System. These banks can and will receive assistance from member banks and from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. These state banks are following the same course as the national banks except that they get their licenses to resume business from the state authorities, and these authorities have been asked by the Secretary of the Treasury to permit their good banks to open up on the same schedule as the national banks. I am confident that the state banking departments will be as careful as the National Government in the policy relating to the opening of banks and will follow the same broad policy. It is possible that when the banks resume a very few people who have not recovered from their fear may again begin withdrawals. Let me make it clear that the banks will take care of all needs—and it is my belief that hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime. It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money -- that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes -- the phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again be glad to have their money where it will be safely taken care of and where they can use it conveniently at any time. I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress. The success of our whole great national program depends, of course, upon the cooperation of the public -- on its intelligent support and use of a reliable system. Remember that the essential accomplishment of the new legislation is that it makes it possible for banks more readily to convert their assets into cash than was the case before. More liberal provision has been made for banks to borrow on these assets at the Reserve Banks and more liberal provision has also been made for issuing currency on the security of those good assets. This currency is not fiat currency. It is issued only on adequate security -- and every good bank has an abundance of such security. One more point before I close. There will be, of course, some banks unable to reopen without being reorganized. The new law allows the Government to assist in making these reorganizations quickly and effectively and even allows the Government to subscribe to at least a part of new capital which may be required. I hope you can see from this elemental recital of what your government is doing that there is nothing complex, or radical in the process. We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. This was of course not true in the vast majority of our banks but it was true in enough of them to shock the people for a time into a sense of insecurity and to put them into a frame of mind where they did not differentiate, but seemed to assume that the acts of a comparative few had tainted them all. It was the Government's job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible -- and the job is being performed. I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drift. I can even promise you salvation for some at least of the sorely pressed banks. We shall be engaged not merely in reopening sound banks but in the creation of sound banks through reorganization. It has been wonderful to me to catch the note of confidence from all over the country. I can never be sufficiently grateful to the people for the loyal support they have given me in their acceptance of the judgment that has dictated our course, even though all of our processes may not have seemed clear to them. After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work. It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail.
166. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1959-04-05 (365) Trapper's Revenge http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.02Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week out west!
167. Western Wednesday HQ Podcast! Gene Autry's Melody Ranch - Be Honest With Me http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 11.96Mb) Description: Join Gene Autry as he sings his way through the old west! Talent with the guitar and his voice led to performing at local dances. After an encouraging chance encounter with Will Rogers, he began performing on local radio in 1928 as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy." He signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1929. He worked in Chicago, Illinois, on the WLS-AM radio show National Barn Dance for four years, and with his own show, where he met singer/songwriter Smiley Burnette. In his early recording career, Autry covered various genres, including a labor song, "The Death of Mother Jones" in 1931. Autry also recorded many "hillbilly"-style records in 1930 and 1931 in New York City, which were certainly different in style and content from his later recordings. These were much closer in style to the Prairie Ramblers or Dick Justice, and included the "Do Right Daddy Blues" and "Black Bottom Blues," both of which contain substantial similarity to "Deep Elem Blues." These late-Prohibition era songs deal with bootlegging, corrupt police, and women whose occupation was certainly vice. These recording are generally not heard today, but are available on European import labels, such as JSP Records. His first hit was in 1932 with That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine, a duet with fellow railroad man, Jimmy Long. Autry also sang the classic Ray Whitley hit "Back in the Saddle Again," as well as many Christmas songs including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," his own composition "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Frosty the Snowman," and arguably his biggest hit "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Autry also owned the Challenge Records label. The label's biggest hit was "Tequila" by The Champs in 1958, which started the rock-and-roll instrumental craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
168. Hump day with Bob Hope! 1948-12-21 Martin and Lewis Show Audition Guest Bob Hope http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (, 0.00Mb) Description: Here is the Audition for the Martin and Lewis Show with Bob Hope as guest star.
169. JACK BENNY PODCAST! 1937-04-11 - Burns and Allen http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.53Mb) Description: Burns and Allen visit Jack and the gang!
170. Hallmark Playhouse 1949-04-07 Elizabeth Taylor - Morning Glory http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.89Mb) Description: 60 years ago today Elizabeth Taylor appeared on the Hallmark Playhouse! She was trying leave her child actor image behind her. When released in 1949, Conspirator bombed at the box office, but Taylor's portrayal of 21-year-old debutante Melinda Grayton (keeping in mind that Taylor was only 16 at the time of filming) who unknowingly marries a communist spy (played by 38-year-old Robert Taylor), was praised by critics for her first adult lead in a film, even though the public didn't seem ready to accept her in adult roles. Taylor's first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover (1950), both a critical and box office failure, that paired her with screen idol Van Johnson. The picture also failed to present Taylor with an opportunity to exhibit her newly-realized sensuality. Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride (1950), alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. The film spawned a sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), which Taylor's costar Spencer Tracy summarised with "boring...boring...boring." The film was received well at the box office but it would be Taylor's next picture that would set the course for her career as a dramatic actress. In late 1949, Taylor had begun filming George Stevens' A Place In The Sun. Upon its release in 1951, Taylor was hailed for her performance as Angela Vickers, a spoilt socialite who comes between George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) and his poor, pregnant factory-working girlfriend Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters). The film became the pivotal performance of Taylor's career as critics acclaimed it as a classic, a reputation it sustained throughout the next 50 years of cinema history. The New York Times' A.H. Weiler wrote, "Elizabeth's delineation of the rich and beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career," and the Boxoffice reviewer unequivocally stated "Miss Taylor deserves an Academy Award." "If you were considered pretty, you might as well have been a waitress trying to act - you were treated with no respect at all", she later bitterly reflected. Even with such critical success as an actress, Taylor was increasingly unsatisfied with the roles being offered to her at the time. While she wanted to play the leads in The Barefoot Contessa and I'll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954). Taylor had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part had already been given to Joan Fontaine and she was handed the thankless role of Rebecca. When she became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she became too heavily pregnant. Taylor lamented that she needed the money, as she had just bought a new house with second husband Michael Wilding and with a child on the way things would be pretty tight. Taylor had been forced by her pregnancy to turn down Elephant Walk (1954), though the role had been designed for her. Vivien Leigh, to whom Taylor bore a striking resemblance, got the part and went to Ceylon to shoot on location. Leigh had a nervous breakdown during filming, and Taylor finally reclaimed the role after the birth of her child Michael Wilding, Jr. in January 1953. Taylor's next screen endeavor, Rhapsody (1954), another tedious romantic drama, proved equally frustrating. Taylor portrayed Louise Durant, a beautiful rich girl in love with a temperamental violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and an earnest young pianist (John Ericson). A film critic for the New York Herald Tribune wrote: "There is beauty in the picture all right, with Miss Taylor glowing into the camera from every angle...but the dramatic pretenses are weak, despite the lofty sentences and handsome manikin poses." Taylor's fourth period picture, Beau Brummell, made just after Elephant Walk and Rhapsody, cast her as the elaborately costumed Lady Patricia, which many felt was only a screen prop— a ravishing beauty whose sole purpose was to lend romantic support to the film's title star, Stewart Granger. The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) fared only slightly better than her previous pictures, with Taylor being reunited with The Big Hangover costar Van Johnson. The role of Helen Ellsworth Willis was based on that of Zelda Fitzgerald and, although pregnant with her second child, Taylor went ahead with the film, her fourth in twelve months. Although proving somewhat successful at the box office, she still yearned for meatier roles.
171. Monday with Martin & Lewis HQ Podcast! 1949-04-10 ep002 William Bendix http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.19Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Martin and Lewis with guest William Bendix. William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film actor. Bendix, named for his paternal grandfather, was born in Manhattan, New York City, the only son of Cleveland-born Oscar and London-born Hilda (nee Carnell) Bendix. As a youth in the early 1920s, Bendix was a batboy for the New York Yankees and said he saw Babe Ruth hit more than a hundred home runs at Yankee Stadium. In 1927, he married Theresa Stefanotti. Bendix worked as a grocer until the Great Depression, before making his film debut in 1942. He played in supporting roles in dozens of Hollywood films, usually as a soldier, gangster or detective. He started with appearances in film noir films including a memorable performance in The Glass Key (1942), which also featured Brian Donlevy and Veronica Lake. He soon gained more attention after appearing in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) as Gus, a wounded and dying American sailor. Bendix's other well-known movie roles include his portrayal of baseball player Babe Ruth in The Babe Ruth Story (1948) and Sir Sagramore opposite Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), in which he took part in the famous trio, "Busy Doing Nothing". He also played Nick the bartender in the 1948 film version of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life starring James Cagney. Bendix had also appeared in the stage version, but in the role of Officer Krupp (a role played on film by Broderick Crawford). Bendix was also well known in that era for his radio work, starring as "Chester A. Riley" in the radio situation comedy series The Life of Riley from 1944 through 1951. He also played the title role in the second television version of the series, which ran from 1953 to 1958 (Jackie Gleason played Riley in a short-lived 1949 version). On the 1952 television program This Is Your Life, it was claimed that he was a descendant of the 19th century composer Felix Mendelssohn.[1] In 1958, Bendix played the lead role in Rod Serling's "The Time Element." "The Time Element" was a time travel adventure about a man named Peter Jenson who travels back to Honolulu in 1941 and unsuccessfully tries to warn everyone about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1960, Bendix starred in seventeen episodes of the NBC western series Overland Trail in the role of Frederick Thomas "Fred" Kelly, the crusty superintendent of the Overland Stage Company. Doug McClure, later Trampass on NBC's The Virginian co-starred as his young understudy, Frank "Flip" Flippen. The program was similar to another offering on ABC the following season, Stagecoach West. Bendix died in Los Angeles from lobar pneumonia in 1964 and was interred there in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery. Bendix was survived by his wife Theresa and two children (Lorraine and Stephanie) from their 37 years of marriage
172. Sunday Sermon! 2008-04-06 D Johnson - Eternal Life http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.67Mb) Description: Come on, you want eternal life don't you?
173. Saturday Screen Directors Playhouse! 1949-04-03 Bob Hope - The Ghost Breakers http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.65Mb) Description: Bob Hope!
174. Jimmy Stewart Saturday! Silver Theater 1937-10-17 First Love Part 3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.83Mb) Description: Part three of Jimmy on this early radio appearance on Silver theater.
175. Jimmy Stewart Saturday HQ Podcast! The Six Shooter 1953-10-04 Ep03 The Stampede http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.71Mb) Description: Out west with Jimmy Stewart.
176. Thriller Thursday! Suspense 1946-12-05 Robert Taylor - House In Cypress Canyon http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.07Mb) Description: Today Robert Taylor stars in, Suspense, in our second scariest OTR episode of all time! Robert Taylor, Cathy Lewis, Hans Conried, Jim Backus, Howard Duff, Paul Frees, Wally Meher. A young couple has just purchased a home. They believe that a werewolf is prowling outside when they start to hear a dog howl and blood starts oozing from underneath the door. Robert Taylor made his film debut in the 1934 comedy, Handy Andy, opposite Will Rogers (on a loan-out to 20th Century Fox). After appearing in a few small roles, he appeared in one of his first leading roles in Magnificent Obsession, with Irene Dunne. This was followed by Camille, opposite Greta Garbo.[6] Taylor and Jean Harlow, 1937 Throughout the late 1930s, Taylor appeared in films of varying genres including the musicals Broadway Melody of 1936 and Broadway Melody of 1938, and the British comedy A Yank at Oxford with Vivien Leigh. In 1940, he reteamed with his A Yank at Oxford co-star Vivien Leigh in Mervyn LeRoy's drama Waterloo Bridge. In 1941, Taylor began breaking away from his perfect leading man image and began appearing in darker roles. That year he portrayed Billy Bonney (better known as Billy the Kid) in Billy the Kid. The next year, he played the title role in the film noir Johnny Eager opposite Lana Turner. After playing a tough sergeant in Bataan in 1943, Taylor contributed to the war effort by becoming a flying instructor in Naval Air Corps. During this time, he also starred in instructional films and narrated the 1944 documentary The Fighting Lady.[4] In 1950, Taylor landed the role of General Marcus Vinicius in Quo Vadis, opposite Deborah Kerr. The film was a hit, grossing USD$11 million.[6] The following year, he starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor in the film version of Walter Scott’s classic Ivanhoe, followed by 1953's Knights of the Round Table and The Adventures of Quentin Durward, all filmed in England. By the mid-1950s, Taylor's career began to wane. He starred in a comedy western in 1955 co-starring Eleanor Parker called Many Rivers To Cross. In 1958, he formed his own production company, Robert Taylor Productions, and the following year, he starred in the ABC hit television series The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor (1959-1962).[3] Following the end of the series in 1962, Taylor continued to appear in films and television including A House Is Not a Home and two episodes of Hondo. In 1965, after filming Johnny Tiger in Florida, Taylor took over the role of narrator in the television series Death Valley Days, when Ronald Reagan left to pursue a career in politics.[8] Taylor would remain with the series until 1969 when he became too ill to continue working.
177. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1959-03-22 The Trial http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.55Mb) Description: Wednesday, time to go out west, from 50 years ago this week!
178. Jack Benny Podcast! 1937-03-28 - A Train Trip to Los Angeles http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.20Mb) Description: Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's first ever appearance. Eddie Anderson Biography Part 1 Eddie Anderson (comedian) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Birth name Edmund Lincoln Anderson Born September 18, 1905(1905-09-18) Oakland, California, USA Died February 28, 1977 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California, USA Show The Jack Benny Program Station(s) NBC, CBS Style Comedian Country United States Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977), often known as Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, was an American comic actor who became famous playing "Rochester van Jones" (usually known simply as "Rochester"), the valet to Jack Benny's eponymous title character on the long-running radio and television series The Jack Benny Program. Birth and early career He was born in Oakland, California, USA on September 18, 1905 into a family of performers, Anderson began his show business career at age 14 in a song-and-dance act with his brother Cornelius and another performer. They billed themselves as the Three Black Aces. At a young age, Anderson permanently damaged his vocal cords (he had to yell loudly for his job selling newspapers), leading to his trademark "raspy" voice. Benny's ordering of his "valet" and Anderson's responses (sometimes a resigned "Yes, Boss", but just as often a snappy joke at Benny's expense) were among the weekly highlights of the long-running show. Anderson's role as a servant was common for Black leads in the popular media of that era, such as Ethel Waters in Beulah. The stereotyping of Blacks (or any ethnic group) had been standard practice in the entertainment business for generations. The relationship between Anderson and Benny became more complex and intimate as the years went by, with Rochester's role becoming both less stereotypical (in early episodes he carried a switchblade and shot craps) and less subservient (though he remained a valet), reflecting changing social attitudes toward Blacks. According to Jack Benny's posthumous autobiography, Sunday Nights at Seven, the tone of racial humor surrounding Rochester declined as a conscious decision between Benny and the writing staff during World War II, once the enormity of the Holocaust was revealed. In short, Benny didn't find such humor funny anymore, and he made an effort to erase it from the character of Rochester. The high esteem in which the two actors held each other was evident upon Benny's death in 1974, in which a tearful Anderson, interviewed for television, spoke of Benny with admiration and respect. Benny was often protective of Anderson, and this led to conflict. For instance, in World War II, Benny toured with his show, but Rochester did not, because discrimination in the armed forces would have required separate living quarters. Interestingly, though, during performances of the radio program staged before armed forces audiences at bases and military hospitals, the appearance of Rochester routinely drew enthusiastic applause that arguably often outstripped that received by other members of the cast. Stateside, a similar incident was defused by Benny when, according to reporter Fredric W. Slater, Rochester was denied a room at the hotel that Benny and his staff were planning to staying in Saint Joseph, Missouri. When it was announced that Anderson could not stay there, Benny replied "If he doesn't stay here, neither do I." The hotel eventually allowed Anderson to remain as a guest. Even though some of the humor was stereotypical, it was always done so that the racial element of the joke came from Anderson and no one else. For instance, when Jack takes a vacation, he takes Rochester along; but as a guest, not a servant, because Jack drives just as often as Rochester does. When they get to Yosemite to go skiing, Jack says "Don't wander off now, you're not used to being in the woods, you'll get lost in all the snow." Rochester replies "Who me?" Thus the race element of the joke was provided by Anderson. Among the most highly-paid performers of his time, Anderson invested wisely and became extremely wealthy. Despite this, he was so strongly identified with the "Rochester" role that many listeners of the radio program mistakenly persisted in the belief that he was Benny's actual valet. One such listener drove Benny to distraction when he sent a scolding letter to Benny concerning Rochester's alleged pay, and then sent another letter to Anderson, which urged him to sue Benny. A similar letter came from a correspondent in the South who was angered that on an episode of the radio show where Benny was sparring with Anderson, that Benny allowed himself to be struck by Anderson. Benny retorted in a letter that it would not have been humorous the other way around.
179. Hallmark Playhouse! 1949-03-24 Richard Conte - Wyatt Earp http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.92Mb) Description: Richard Conte (March 24, 1910 – April 15, 1975) was an American actor who appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.
180. Jack Benny Podcast! 1949-03-20 - Mary and Van Johnson Are Late http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.92Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, Van Johnson was Jack's guest star. Van Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) (born Charles Van Johnson) was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during World War II. Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the war years. At the time of his death in December 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age."
181. Sunday Sermon - 2008-03-30 D Johnson - Grace & Truth http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.92Mb) Description: As John Lennon said, "Just give me some truth!"
182. Jimmy Stewart Saturday! Silver Theater 1937-10-10 First Love Part 2 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.84Mb) Description: Enjoy the second part in this four part original story from the Silver Theater.
183. Suspense Saturday! 1949-03-24 Pat O'Brien - Dead Ernest http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.90Mb) Description: After being hit in an Automobile accident, Ernest Bowers is taken to the Morgue ... But is Ernest really dead?
184. Phriday with Phil Harris HQ Podcast! 1949-03-20 - Alice Wants A House For Her Mother http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.70Mb) Description: 60 years ago with Phil and Alice! Presented in HQ 48kbs.
185. Friday with Fibber McGee HQ Podcast! 1939-03-21 The Spring Haircut.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.13Mb) Description: 70 years ago today, now in High Quality 80 kbs, thanks to William and Barbara! Do you need a haircut, I do!
186. Friday with Fred Allen Podcast! 1943-01-31 Oscar Levant http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.01Mb) Description: Some examples of examples of Oscar Levants controversial repartée: * "Roses are red, violets are blue, I am schizophrenic, and so am I."[cite this quote] * "I used to call Audrey Hepburn a walking X-ray." * "A few years ago someone suggested that I read Spinoza. The first chapter in this particular volume was about superstitions and rituals. Here was my faith! Spinoza said rituals are all based on fear. My faith destroyed, I put down the book." * "When Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped, I said, 'It must have been done by music critics.'" * "Not long ago, a well-known Hollywood savings-and-loan millionaire intruded on a conversation at my table at a restaurant. Worst still, he implied that he and I were equals. 'Compared to you, I'm a Habsburg,' I told him. But it didn't offend him. He thought Habsburg was a rival local banker." * "What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left." * "I only make jokes when I am feeling insecure." * "So little time and so little to do..." * "I'm a concert pianist, that's a pretentious way of saying I'm unemployed at the moment." (From An American in Paris) * "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin." (Levant was in the cast of Doris Day's first film, Romance on the High Seas, in which Day played a brassy showgirl very different from the virginal ingenue character that later brought her stardom.) * "I have one thing to say about psychoanalysis: fuck Dr Freud." * "The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too." * "Everyone in Hollywood is gay, except Gabby Hayes — and that's because he is a transvestite." * "It's not a pretty face, I grant you but underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character." (From An American in Paris) * When asked by Jack Paar what he does for exercise, he replied, "I stumble, then fall into a coma." * "Leonard Bernstein is revealing musical secrets that have been common knowledge for centuries." * Asked by Jack Paar to describe his reaction to Milton Berle converting to become a Christian Scientist- "Our loss is their loss." * Overheard at a dinner party: "The best kind of guests are the ones that know when to leave!" * "Strip away the false tinsel from Hollywood, and you find the real tinsel inside."
187. Thriller Thursday! Quiet Please 1948-08-09 The Thing on the Fourble Board http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.80Mb) Description: The third scariest episode in OTR history! "The Thing on the Fourble Board" Probably the most highly regarded episode of Quiet, Please! is "The Thing on the Fourble Board" (August 9, 1948), about an oil-field worker who encounters a mysterious subterranean being hiding on the derrick's catwalk. The unusual title is a bit of oil worker argot: the "fourble board" of an oil derrick is a narrow catwalk that is as high up as four lengths of drilling pipe placed vertically (two lengths of pipe are a "double", three are a "thribble" and four are a "fourble. "Quiet, Please! was an old-time radio fantasy and horror program created by Wyllis Cooper, also known for creating Lights Out. Ernest Chappell was the show's announcer and lead actor. Quiet, Please! was first broadcast by on June 8, 1947 by the Mutual Broadcasting System, and its last episode ran on June 25, 1949, by ABC. A total of 106 shows were broadcast, with only a very few of them repeats. Earning relatively little notice during its initial run, Quiet, Please! has since been praised as one of the finest efforts of the golden age of American radio drama. Professor Richard J. Hand of the University of Glamorgan (author of probably the most detailed critical analysis of the series) argues that with Quiet, Please, Cooper and Chappell "created works of astonishing originality" (Hand, 145); he further describes the program as an "extraordinary body of work" (Hand, 158), which established Cooper "as one of the greatest auteurs of horror radio." (Hand, 161) Similarly, radio historian Ron Lackmann declares that the episodes "were exceptionally well written and outstandingly acted" (Lackmann, 226), while John Dunning describes the show as "a potent series bristling with rich imagination." (Dunning, 559)
188. JACK BENNY PODCAST! 1937-03-21 - Abe Lyman - A Day In Our Lives http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.89Mb) Description: Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 - October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade. His name at birth was Abraham Simon Lymon. Abe and his brother Mike changed their last name to Lyman because they both thought it sounded better. Abe learned to play the drums when he was young, and at the age of 14 he had a job as a drummer in a Chicago café. Around 1919, Abe was regularly playing music with two other notable future big band leaders, Henry Halstead and Gus Arnheim in California. In Los Angeles Mike opened the Sunset, a night club popular with such film stars as Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. When Abe’s nine-piece band first played at the Sunset, it was a success, but the club closed after celebrities signed contracts stating they were not to be seen at clubs. For an engagement at the Cocoanut Grove in The Ambassador Hotel on April 1, 1922, Abe added a violinist and saxophonist. Opening night drew a large crowd of 1500 guests in the Cocoanut Grove, plus another 500 more outside. After the band cut their first record under the local label Nordskog Records, they moved a year later to Brunswick Records where they made many recordings. The Lyman Orchestra toured Europe in 1929, appearing at the Kit Cat Club and the Palladium in London and at the Moulin Rouge and the Perroquet in Paris. Abe Lyman and his orchestra were featured in a number of early talkies, including Hold Everything (1930), Paramount on Parade (1930), Good News (1930) and Madam Satan (1930). In 1931, Abe Lyman and his orchestra recorded a number of soundtracks for the Merrie Melodies cartoon series. Notable musicians in the Lyman Orchestra included Ray Lopez, Gussie Mueller, and Orlando "Slim" Martin. During the 1930s, the Lyman Orchestra was heard regularly on such shows as Accordiana and Waltz Time. When Lyman was 50 years old, he left the music industry and went into the restaurant management business. He died in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 60.
189. Sunday Sermon! 2008-03-09 M Stelle Stories of Laughter http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.27Mb) Description: Jack Benny knew a little laughter is a great thing!
190. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast! The Six Shooter 1953-09-27 Ep02 The Coward http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.92Mb) Description: The second episode of The Six Shooter after the pilot. I love Jimmy Stewart in this series! he Six Shooter was a weekly old-time radio program in the USA. It was created by Frank Burt, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes on NBC (Sept. 20, 1953-June 24, 1954). Through March 21, 1954 it was broadcasted Sundays at 8 p.m. Beginning April 1, 1954 through the final episode it was on Thursday at 8 p.m. James Stewart starred as Britt Ponsett, a drifting cowboy in the final years of the wild west. Episodes ranged from straight western drama to whimsical comedy. A trademark of the show was Stewart's use of whispered narration during tense scenes that created a heightened sense of drama and relief when the situation was resolved. Some of the more prominent actors to perform on the program included Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, Harry Bartell, Howard McNear, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Alan Reed, Marvin Miller and William Conrad. Some did multiple episodes playing different characters. Each episode opened with the announcer stating: The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both "the Six Shooter". The haunting theme music was "Highland Lament" by series composor Basil Adlam. The final broadcast "Myra Barker" provided a satisfying (if melancholy) finale to the series: Ponsett falls in love with Myra, and proposes marriage. Myra, after thinking it over, appears to accept -- but then tells Britt she's heard that Sheriff Jennings of Eagle Falls has asked for his help, and Britt admits that he feels obligated to go. Myra tells Britt to go and not come back -- telling him some adventure will always call him, and he'll always go, or regret not going. Britt goes, resuming his wanderings, but not before revealing to the audience that he knows he was not needed in Eagle Falls -- and knows Myra knows that too. The moment comes across of a moment of supreme self-realization by Britt that he always will be a wanderer.
191. Thriller Thursday! 1943-09-26 The Shadow - The Gibbering Thing http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.52Mb) Description: I've been looking for a good quality copy of this episode. I found one, so here is the 8th scariest OTR show in history featuring The Shadow!
192. Jack Benny Podcast! 1949-03-06 - A Day at the Races http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.15Mb) Description: Sheldon Leonard played an eccentric racetrack tout on The Jack Benny Program in the late 1940s and early '50s. His role was to salute Benny out of the blue in railroad stations, on street corners, or in department stores ("hey Bud, come here a minute"), ask Benny what he was about to do, and then proceed to try to argue him out of his course of action by resorting to inane and irrelevant racing logic. Ironically, as "The Tout," he never gave out information on horse racing, unless Jack demanded it. One excuse the tout gave was "Who knows about horses?" He also appeared frequently on "The Adventures of the Saint," often playing gangsters and heavies, but also sometimes in more positive roles.
193. Sunday Sermon! 2008-02-24 MStelle Intamacy http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 11.89Mb) Description:
194. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast! Silver Theater 1937-10-03 ep001 First Love Part 1 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.88Mb) Description: Over 70 years ago Jimmy Stewart and Rosalind Russell appeared on the very first broadcast of Silver Theater! This is the first part in a four part original story for the Silver Theater, and we will bring you the whole show every other week. Next week join us for another episode of the Six Shooter Starring Jimmy Stewart!
195. Friday with Fred_Allen! 1942-12-06 George Jessel - First Allens Alley http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.69Mb) Description: The first offical Allen's alley in an episode, starring George Jessel. George Jessel (3 April 1898 – 23 May 1981) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies. He was widely known by his nickname, the "Toastmaster General of the United States" for his frequent role as the master of ceremonies at political and entertainment gatherings.
196. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1959-03-01 Bit Tom http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.41Mb) Description: 50 years ago out west!
197. Orson Welles Wednesday Podcast! 1942-09-18 Information Please - guest Orson Welles http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.16Mb) Description: Information Please was an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938 to June 25, 1948. The title phrase was contemporarily used to request information such as directory assistance and time of day from telephone operators. The series was moderated by Clifton Fadiman (1904–1999). A panel of experts would attempt to answer questions submitted by listeners. If the panelists were stumped, the questioner earned five dollars and a complete edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. As the years went by, the prize money increased accordingly. Panel regulars included writer-actor-pianist Oscar Levant (1906–1972) and newspaper columnists and renowned wits and intellectuals Franklin P. Adams (1881–1960) and John Kieran (1892–1981). All the panelists were well-versed in a wide range of topics, though each had a specialty. Music and film questions were often addressed to Levant. Adams was well known for his mastery of poetry, popular culture and Gilbert and Sullivan. Kieran was an expert in natural history, sports and literature. A typical question would have three or four parts and would require the panelists to get a majority of the questions right, lest they lose the prize money. The show would always have a fourth guest panelist, usually either a celebrity, a politician or writer. Guest panelists included Fred Allen, Boris Karloff, Clare Boothe Luce, Dorothy Parker, S. J. Perelman, Sigmund Spaeth, Rex Stout, Jan Struther, Deems Taylor, Alexander Woollcott, Ruth Gordon, and Orson Welles. The show was as much a comedy as a quiz show. The panelists displayed a quick wit in answering the questions, reveling in puns and malapropisms. Due to the spontanteous nature of the program, it became the first show for which NBC allowed a prerecorded repeat for the West Coast. During World War II, the show frequently went on tours from its New York City base to promote the buying of war bonds. Instead of the usual cash prize, a question writer would win a bond. The show received several awards as an outstanding radio quiz show. In 1947, Golenpaul edited the Information Please Almanac, a reference book which continued through the years in different formats (including the website Infoplease).
198. Humpday with Bob Hope Podcast! 1939-03-07 - Guest - Judy Garland http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.22Mb) Description: 70 years ago this week, Judy garland had a visit with Bob Hope!
199. Sci Fi Sunday Podcast! Voyage of the Scarlet Queen - 1947-02-02 -AUD-The Death Of David Malone http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.21Mb) Description: Voyage of the Scarlet Queen was a radio adventure on the high seas, airing on Mutual from 3 July 1947 to 14 February 1948. James Burton produced the scripts by Gil Doud and Robert Tallman. Elliott Lewis starred as Philip Carney, master of the 78-foot ketch Scarlet Queen, with Ed Max as first mate Red Gallagher. The show seems to foreshadow Star Trek in a number of ways. Each episode opens with an entry from the ship's log: "Log entry, the ketch Scarlet Queen, Philip Carney, master. Position -- three degrees, seven minutes north, 104 degrees, two minutes east. Wind, fresh to moderate; sky, fair..." with a similar closing: "Ship secured for the night. Signed, Philip Carney, master." Arriving at an exotic port of call, the captain and first mate would go ashore and immediately run into trouble with local authorities, agents of rival merchants, or desperate women in need of rescue. After some investigation and at least one good fight they would solve the problem, get back on the ship and sail away, Carney and Gallagher sharing a laugh and a drink at the wheel before the captain's closing log entry. Technically the show was among the better radio productions of the time, employing realistic sound effects and sailing terminology, well paced stories and colorfully detailed settings. Most places visited by the Queen are real. Even the map coordinates given by the captain are mostly accurate, following a zigzag course around the South Pacific.
200. Sunday Sermon 2008-02-10 M Steele - Commitment http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 18.69Mb) Description: I have always thought that anyone listening to my podcasts should be committed! :)
201. Jimmy Stewart Saturday HQ Podcast! Six Shooter 1953-09-20 Ep01 Jenny http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.84Mb) Description: The Six Shooter was a weekly old-time radio program in the USA. It was created by Frank Burt, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes on NBC (Sept. 20, 1953-June 24, 1954). Through March 21, 1954 it was broadcasted Sundays at 8 p.m. Beginning April 1, 1954 through the final episode it was on Thursday at 8 p.m. James Stewart starred as Britt Ponsett, a drifting cowboy in the final years of the wild west. Episodes ranged from straight western drama to whimsical comedy. A trademark of the show was Stewart's use of whispered narration during tense scenes that created a heightened sense of drama and relief when the situation was resolved. Some of the more prominent actors to perform on the program included Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, Harry Bartell, Howard McNear, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Alan Reed, Marvin Miller and William Conrad. Some did multiple episodes playing different characters. Each episode opened with the announcer stating: The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both "the Six Shooter". The haunting theme music was "Highland Lament" by series composor Basil Adlam. The final broadcast "Myra Barker" provided a satisfying (if melancholy) finale to the series: Ponsett falls in love with Myra, and proposes marriage. Myra, after thinking it over, appears to accept -- but then tells Britt she's heard that Sheriff Jennings of Eagle Falls has asked for his help, and Britt admits that he feels obligated to go. Myra tells Britt to go and not come back -- telling him some adventure will always call him, and he'll always go, or regret not going. Britt goes, resuming his wanderings, but not before revealing to the audience that he knows he was not needed in Eagle Falls -- and knows Myra knows that too. The moment comes across of a moment of supreme self-realization by Britt that he always will be a wanderer.
202. Friday with Fred Allen Podcast! 1942-11-29 Adolph Menjou - New Suit http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.75Mb) Description: Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania of French and Irish descent,[1] he was raised Roman Catholic, and attended the Culver Military Academy and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in engineering. Attracted to the vaudeville stage, he made his movie debut in 1916 in The Blue Envelope Mystery. During World War I, he served as a captain in the ambulance service. Returning from the war, he became a star in such films as The Sheik and The Three Musketeers. When he starred in 1923's A Woman of Paris, he solidified the image of a well-dressed man-about-town. His career stalled with the coming of talkies, but in 1930, he starred in Morocco, with Marlene Dietrich. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page (1931). In 1947, Menjou cooperated with the House Committee on Un-American Activities in its hunt for Communists in Hollywood. Menjou was a leading member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a self-styled patriotic group formed to oppose Communist influence in Hollywood. Other members included Barbara Stanwyck (with whom he co-starred in Golden Boy in 1939) and her husband, actor Robert Taylor. Because of his political sympathies Menjou came into conflict with actress Katharine Hepburn, who was considered a radical left-winger by the actor's extremely conservative standards. Menjou appeared with her in the films Stage Door and State of the Union, which also starred Spencer Tracy. Mistakenly suspected of Communist sympathies, Hepburn was strongly opposed to Americans outing their fellow citizens. It is reported by William Mann in his biography; "Kate," that during the filming of State of the Union, she and Menjou only spoke to each other when required to in the film script. Menjou ended his career with such roles as French General George Broulard in 1957's Paths of Glory, and as the town curmudgeon in Pollyanna in 1960. In 1948, he published his autobiography, It Took Nine Tailors.
203. Friday with Fibber McGee HQ Podcast! 1939-02-28 Mouse In The House http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.20Mb) Description: Fun Friday with Fibber from 70 years ago this week!
204. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke1959-02-22 The Search http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.68Mb) Description: Howdy, more Western Wednesday from 50 years ago this week!
205. Hump day with Bob Hope Podcast! 1941-01-28 - Guest - Basil Rathbone http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.94Mb) Description: Basil Rathbone, MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967), was a South African-born English actor most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and of suave villains in such swashbuckler films as The Mark of Zorro, Captain Blood, and The Adventures of Robin Hood.
206. Orson Welles Wednesday Podcast! Bergen & McCarthy 1944-04-02 guest Orson Welles http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 11.60Mb) Description: Edgar Bergen's first performances were in vaudeville, at which point he legally changed his last name to the easier-to-pronounce "Bergen". He also worked in one-reel movie shorts, but his real success was on the radio. He and Charlie were seen at a New York party by Elsa Maxwell for Noël Coward, who recommended them for an engagement at the famous Rainbow Room. It was there that two producers saw Bergen and Charlie perform. They then recommended them for a guest appearance on Rudy Vallée's program. The appearance was so successful that the next year they were given their own show. Under various sponsors, they were on the air from December 17, 1937 to July 1, 1956. The popularity of a ventriloquist on radio, when one could see neither the dummies nor his skill, surprised and puzzled many critics, then and now. Even knowing that Bergen provided the voice, listeners perceived Charlie as a genuine person, but only through artwork, rather than photos, could the character be seen as truly lifelike. Thus, in 1947, Sam Berman caricatured Bergen and McCarthy for the network's glossy promotional book, NBC Parade of Stars: As Heard Over Your Favorite NBC Station. It was Bergen's skill as an entertainer and vocal performer, and especially his characterization of Charlie, that carried the show. Many of the shows have survived and are available for audiences today to experience the phenomenon firsthand. Bergen's success on radio was paralleled in the United Kingdom by Peter Brough and his dummy Archie Andrews (Educating Archie). For the radio program, Bergen developed other characters, notably the slow-witted Mortimer Snerd and the man-hungry Effie Klinker. The star remained Charlie, who was always presented as a highly precocious child (albeit in top hat, cape, and monocle) – a debonair, girl-crazy, child-about-town. As a child, and a wooden one at that, Charlie could get away with double entendre which were otherwise impossible under broadcast standards of the time.
207. JACK BENNY PODCAST! 1937-02-28 - The Bee is Finally Played http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.24Mb) Description: The feud continues 72 years ago this week!
208. Hallmark Playhouse Podcast! 1949-02-24 Virginia Bruce - So Big http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.02Mb) Description: 60 years ago today Hallmark presented it's "very best" with Virginia Bruce! Virginia Bruce (September 29, 1910 – February 24, 1982) was an American actress and singer Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bruce began her acting career in minor roles in Hollywood in 1929. In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles, followed by America's Sweetheart in 1931. Bruce returned to Hollywood in 1932, where she married John Gilbert, her co-star in the film Downstairs. She retired briefly after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann Gilbert. The couple divorced in 1934, and Virginia returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances. Gilbert died in 1936. That same year, Bruce introduced the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the film Born to Dance and costarred in the MGM musical The Great Ziegfeld. Virginia married film director J. Walter Ruben in 1937, making the Wallace Beery western The Bad Man of Brimstone together that year, and they had a son named Christopher, but she was widowed in 1942. In 1946 she married Ali Ipar. They divorced in 1951 in order for him to receive a commission in the Turkish Military (which forbid promotions of men married to foreigners), but remarried in 1952. One of her final film appearances was in the 1960's Strangers When We Meet. Her final film appearance was in Madame Wang's in 1981. Virginia Bruce died from cancer in Woodland Hills, California.
209. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast! 1941-12-15 - We Hold These Truths HQ - 150th birthday of the Bill of Rights http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.78Mb) Description: 60 Million people listened to it when it was first broadcast one week after the attack on Pearl Harbor! It's been rarely heard since, so this is one of the shows I am proudest to bring you! Jimmy Stewart and Orson Welles in "We Hold These Truths!"
210. Orson Welles Wednesday Podcast! JACK BENNY - 1943-04-11 - Jack Returns http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.77Mb) Description: Jack's back! Orson's last episode in his string of 5 weeks worth of appearances!
211. Sunday Sermon! 2008-01-27 M Steele - Rythm of Relationship http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.53Mb) Description: How is your relationship?
212. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast! Hollywood Star Playhouse 1952-04-13 The Six Shooter http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.39Mb) Description: The Six Shooter was a weekly old-time radio program in the USA. It was created by Frank Burt, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes on NBC (Sept. 20, 1953-June 24, 1954). Through March 21, 1954 it was broadcasted Sundays at 8 p.m. Beginning April 1, 1954 through the final episode it was on Thursday at 8 p.m. James Stewart starred as Britt Ponsett, a drifting cowboy in the final years of the wild west. Episodes ranged from straight western drama to whimsical comedy. A trademark of the show was Stewart's use of whispered narration during tense scenes that created a heightened sense of drama and relief when the situation was resolved. Some of the more prominent actors to perform on the program included Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, Harry Bartell, Howard McNear, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Alan Reed, Marvin Miller and William Conrad. Some did multiple episodes playing different characters. Each episode opened with the announcer stating: The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both "the Six Shooter". The haunting theme music was "Highland Lament" by series composor Basil Adlam. The final broadcast "Myra Barker" provided a satisfying (if melancholy) finale to the series: Ponsett falls in love with Myra, and proposes marriage. Myra, after thinking it over, appears to accept -- but then tells Britt she's heard that Sheriff Jennings of Eagle Falls has asked for his help, and Britt admits that he feels obligated to go. Myra tells Britt to go and not come back -- telling him some adventure will always call him, and he'll always go, or regret not going. Britt goes, resuming his wanderings, but not before revealing to the audience that he knows he was not needed in Eagle Falls -- and knows Myra knows that too. The moment comes across of a moment of supreme self-realization by Britt that he always will be a wanderer.
213. Saturday Screen Directors Playhouse Podcast! 1949-02-06 - Rosalind Russell - Hired Wife - ep005 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.21Mb) Description: Rosalind Russell (4 June 1907 – 28 November 1976) was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as originating the role of Auntie Mame on Broadway and in film. She won all 5 Golden Globes for which she was nominated, and was tied with Meryl Streep for wins until the 2007 awards when Streep was awarded a sixth. Russell won a Tony Award in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show Wonderful Town.
214. Friday with Fred Allen Podcast! 1942-10-25 Roy Rogers - Courting of Jenny Sugs http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.74Mb) Description: Fun with Fred Allen, and of course, who could resist Roy Rogers cowboy charm! oy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye) (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), was a singer and cowboy actor, as well as the founder of the the famous Roy Rogers Restaurants chain. He and his third wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger, and his German Shepherd Dog, Bullet, were featured in over one hundred movies and The Roy Rogers Show. The show ran on radio for nine years before moving to television from 1951 through 1957. His productions usually featured two sidekicks, Pat Brady, (who drove a jeep called "Nellybelle"), and the crotchety Gabby Hayes. Roy's nickname was "King of the Cowboys". Dale's nickname was "Queen of the West." For many Americans (and non-Americans), he was the embodiment of the all-American hero.
215. Phriday with Phil Harris Podcast! 1949-02-06 - Phil Has To Fire Frank Remley http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.80Mb) Description: 60 years ago today Phil had to fire Remley!
216. Friday with Fibber McGee HQ Podcast! 1939-02-07 Faulty Window Shade http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 15.21Mb) Description: Now in 44100 hrz 64 bit quality! Enjoy this episode form 70 years ago this week.
217. Thriller Thursday Podcast! Escape 1947-11-05 Evening Primrose http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.02Mb) Description: Hi kiddies! Welcome to Thriller Thursday with the 7th scariest OTR episode of all time! Not for the timid!
218. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1939-02-05 - The Challenge http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.54Mb) Description: 70 years ago today with Jack Benny!
219. Screen Guild Theater Thursday Podcast! 39-02-05 Bing Crosby- The Junior Screen Guild Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.80Mb) Description: Bing Crosby From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American popular singer and actor whose career lasted from 1926 until his death. One of the first multimedia stars, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby held a nearly unrivaled command of record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses.[2] Widely recognized as one of the most popular musical acts in history, Crosby is also credited as being the major inspiration for most of the male singers of the era that followed him, including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. Yank magazine recognized Crosby as the person who had done the most for American G.I. morale during World War II and, during his peak years, around 1948, polls declared him the "most admired man alive," ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII.[2][3] Also during 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.[3] Crosby exerted an important influence on the development of the postwar recording industry. In 1947, he invested US$50,000 in the Ampex company, which developed North America's first commercial reel-to-reel tape recorder, and Crosby became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings on magnetic tape. He gave one of the first Ampex Model 200 recorders to his friend, musician Les Paul, which led directly to Paul's invention of multitrack recording. Along with Frank Sinatra, he was one of the principal backers behind the famous United Western Recorders studio complex in Los Angeles.[4] In 1962, Crosby was the first person to receive the Global Achievement Award.[5] He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way. Crosby is one of the few people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
220. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1959-02-01 The Bobbsey Twins http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.82Mb) Description: Western Wednesday! 50 years ago this week on Gunsmoke!
221. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1937-02-07 - The Stolen Violin http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.60Mb) Description: Best of Benny continues with the episode from 72 years ago this week!
222. Duffy's Tavern Tuesday Podcast! 1944-01-04 Duffy Wants Fred Allen to MC A Pig Roast http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.89Mb) Description: Fred Allen (born John Florence Sullivan May 31, 1894 - March 17, 1956) was an American comedian whose absurdist, pointed radio show (1934–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.[1] His best-remembered gag may be his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny. Allen has been considered one of the more accomplished, daring and relevant humorists of his time. A master adlibber, he constantly battled censorship and developed routines the style and substance of which influenced future comic talents, notably Stan Freberg. Perhaps more than anyone else of his generation, Fred Allen wielded influence that outlived both his contemporaries and the medium that made him famous. For contributions to the radio industry, Fred Allen was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
223. Hallmark Playhouse Podcast! 1949-02-03 Gregory Peck - Abe Lincoln The Prairie Years http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.67Mb) Description: 60 years ago today, Gregory Peck starred as Abe Lincoln on the Hallmark Playhouse! Gregory Peck (5 April 1916 – 12 June 2003) was an American film actor. He was one of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars, from the 1940s to the 1960s, and played important roles well into the 1990s. One of his most notable performances was as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film version of To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won his Academy Award. President Lyndon Johnson honored Peck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 for his lifetime humanitarian efforts.[1] In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at #12.
224. Sunday Sermon! 2008-01-20 David Johnson - Generosity http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 11.19Mb) Description: Generosity is a good thing. I mean, all of these great shows are free. Pay it forward if you can. In this economy, we all need to try our best to help each other.
225. Suspense Saturday Podcast! 1949-02-03 Jim and Marion Jordan (Fibber McGee and Molly) - Back Seat Driver http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.96Mb) Description: 6o years ago Fibber McGee and Molly were featured in Suspense!
226. Jimmy Stewart Saturday Podcast! JACK BENNY - 1952-04-27 - Bend in the River http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.74Mb) Description: Jimmy Stewart always loved the radio and appeared in many shows over a period of 66 years. He frequently made appearances on Lux Radio Theater, including a dramatization of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He also played many parts in Screen Guild Theater. Stewart also hosted Good News of 1938 and 1939, which was an outlet to promote MGM stars’ new pictures and personalities. In 1948, James Stewart made his homecoming performance on Theater Guild of the Air in "The Philadelphia Story." He also appeared in several variety shows such as Bing Crosby and Bob Hope’s shows. In the 1950s, he went on to star in a popular western radio show, Six Shooter. He also often appeared on the Jack Benny Radio and TV show.
227. Friday with Fred Allen Podcast! 1942-10-18 Orson Welles - Les Miserables http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.60Mb) Description: Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American actor, director, writer and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre and television. Welles was also an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety spectacles in the war years. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the 20th century. His first two films with RKO, Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, are widely considered two of the greatest ever made; Kane frequently appears at No. #1. His other films, including Touch of Evil and Chimes at Midnight, are also considered to be masterpieces.[1][2] In 2002 he was voted as the greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute's poll of Top Ten Directors.[3][4]
228. Friday with Fibber McGee and Company HQ Podcast! 1939-01-31 Military Advisor For Army Maneuvers http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.89Mb) Description: 70 years ago this week with Fibber McGee!
229. Phriday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye Podcast! 1949-01-30 - The Fire Chief http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.36Mb) Description: From 60 years ago today!
230. Thriller Thursday Podcast! Escape 1950-10-20 The Power Of Hammer http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.55Mb) Description: If you like horror, nightmares, and being disturbed, then Thriller Thursday is for you! This was voted the 9th scariest OTR episode ever! Enjoy kiddies!
231. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1939-01-29 - Benny vs Allen Fight http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.98Mb) Description: 70 years ago today, another episode that is in my top 5 of all time Benny shows! Wonderful from start to finish, with just a little controversy thrown in when Rochester punches Jack.
232. Screen Guild Theater Thurday Podcast! 1939-01-29 Cliff Nazarro and Marlene Dietrich ep004 Variety Review 2 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.29Mb) Description: 70 years ago today, Cliff Nazarro and Marlene Dietrich appeared on Screen Guild Theater!
233. Orson Welles Wednesday Podcast! JACK BENNY - 1943-03-28 - Host Orson Welles - Murder at Midnight http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.60Mb) Description: Week three of Orson taking over for Jack.
234. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke1959-01-25 The Boots http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.67Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week, out west!
235. Hallmark Playhouse Podcast! 1949-01-27 032 Ward Bond - The Failure http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.51Mb) Description: 60 years ago today, Ward Bond was featured in Hollywood Playhouse! Ward Edwin Bond[1] (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960) was an American film actor whose rugged appearance and easygoing charm led to featured roles in numerous classic films. Hollywood Bond made his screen debut in 1929 in John Ford's Salute, and thereafter played over 200 roles. He was frequently typecast as a friendly policemen or as a brutal thug. He had a long-time working relationship with directors John Ford and Frank Capra, performing in such films as The Searchers, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Quiet Man, and Fort Apache for Ford, with whom he made 25 films, and It Happened One Night and It's a Wonderful Life for Capra. Among his other prominent films were Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), They Were Expendable (1945), Joan of Arc (1948), in which he was unusually cast as Captain La Hire, and Rio Bravo (1959). He later starred in the popular NBC western television series Wagon Train from 1957 until his death. Wagon Train was based on the 1950 movie Wagon Master, in which Bond also appeared. An epileptic, he was rejected by the draft during World War II. in The Searchers (1956) In the 1940s, Bond was an intensely active member of the right-wing group called the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, whose major platform was opposition to communists in the film industry. Prior to his death, Bond campaigned for the Republican presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon. Bond died three days before Democrat John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon. The wide-shouldered 6`2" Bond appears in more of the films on both the original and the tenth anniversary edition of the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movies lists than any other actor: It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Searchers (1956). Bond has also been in 11 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, which is more than any other actor:[2] Arrowsmith (1931/32), Lady for a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), The Quiet Man (1952) and Mister Roberts (1955). A legend has developed that country singer Johnny Horton died in an automobile accident while driving to see Bond at a hotel in Dallas to discuss a possible role in the fourth season of Wagon Train. Although Horton was indeed killed in a car crash at 1:30 a.m. on November 5, 1960, and Bond died from a massive heart attack at noon that same day, the two events were unrelated. Horton was on his way from Austin to Shreveport, Louisiana, not Dallas. Bond was in Dallas not to meet Horton but to attend a football game. (In any case, Bond, as star of his show, was not a producer and was not in a position to hire Horton. Moreover, there was already a "Horton" on Wagon Train, actor Robert Horton (born 1924), who played the fictitious scout "Flint McCullough".) Bond was 57 at the time of his death; John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral. Bond's will bequeathed to Wayne the shotgun with which Wayne had once accidentally shot Bond.[3] For his contribution to the television industry, Bond has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd. In 2001, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. There is also a Ward Bond Memorial Park in his birthplace of Benkelman, Nebraska.
236. Hallmark Playhouse Podcast! 1949-01-20 031 Ruth Hussey - Parnassus on Wheels http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.17Mb) Description: Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Oscar-nominated role as photographer Liz Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story. Career After working as an actress in summer stock, she returned to Providence and worked as a radio fashion commentator on a local station. She wrote the ad copy for a Providence clothing store and read it on the radio each afternoon. One day she was encouraged by a friend to try out for acting roles at the Providence Playhouse. The theater director there turned her down, saying the roles were cast only out of New York City. in The Philadelphia Story (1940) MGM signed her to a players contract and she made her film debut in 1937. She quickly became a leading lady in MGM's "B" unit, usually playing sophisticated, worldly roles. For a 1940 "A" picture role she was nominated for an Academy Award for her turn as Liz Imbrie, the cynical magazine photographer and girlfriend of Jimmy Stewart's character Macaulay Connor in The Philadelphia Story. Hussey also worked with Robert Taylor in Flight Command (1940), Robert Young in H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), Van Heflin in Tennessee Johnson (1942), Ray Milland in The Uninvited (1944) and Alan Ladd in The Great Gatsby (1949). In 1946 she starred on Broadway in State Of The Union the Pulitzer Prize play. In 1960 she co-starred in The Facts of Life with Bob Hope. Hussey was also active in early television drama.
237. Duffy's Tavern Tuesday Podcast! 1943-10-19 - Peter Lorre - Missing Salami Sandwich Case http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.34Mb) Description: Peter Lorre made an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M. Later he became a popular featured player in Hollywood crime films and mysteries, notably alongside Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet, and as the star of the successful Mr. Moto detective series. Biography Lorre was born into a Jewish family in Rózsahegy (Hungarian)/Rosenberg (German), Kingdom of Hungary, part of Austria-Hungary, now Ružomberok, Slovakia. His parents were Alois and Elvira. When he was a child his family moved to Vienna where Lorre attended school. During his youth, Lorre was a student of Sigmund Freud. He began acting on stage in Vienna at the age of 17, where he worked with Richard Teschner, then moved to Breslau, and Zürich. In the late 1920s the young 5' 5" (1.65 m) actor moved to Berlin where he worked with German playwright Bertolt Brecht, most notably in his Mann ist Mann. He also appeared as Dr. Nakamura in the infamous musical Happy End by Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, alongside Brecht's wife Helene Weigel and other impressive co-stars such as Carola Neher, Oskar Homolka and Kurt Gerron. The German-speaking actor became famous when Fritz Lang cast him as a child killer in his 1931 film M. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Lorre took refuge first in Paris and then London where he was noticed by Ivor Mantagu, Alfred Hitchcock's associate producer for The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), who reminded the director about Lorre's performance in M. They first considered him to play the assassin in the film, but wanted to use him in a larger role, despite his limited command of English,[2] which Lorre overcame by learning much of his part phonetically. Eventually, Lorre went to Hollywood where he specialized in playing wicked or wily foreigners, beginning with Mad Love (1935), directed by Karl Freund. He starred in a series of Mr. Moto movies, a parallel to the better known Charlie Chan series, in which he played a Japanese detective and spy created by John P. Marquand. He did not much enjoy these films -- and twisted his shoulder during a stunt in Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation -- but they were lucrative for the studio and gained Lorre many new fans. In 1939, Peter was picked to play the role that would eventually go to Basil Rathbone in Son of Frankenstein. Lorre had to decline the part due to illness. In 1940, Lorre co-starred with fellow horror actors Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the Kay Kyser movie You'll Find Out. Lorre enjoyed considerable popularity as a featured player in Warner Bros. suspense and adventure films. Lorre played the role of Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and portrayed the character Ugarte in the film classic Casablanca (1942).[3] Lorre demonstrated a gift for comedy in the role of Dr. Einstein in Arsenic and Old Lace (filmed in 1941, released 1944). In 1946 he starred with Sydney Greenstreet and Geraldine Fitzgerald in Three Strangers, a suspense film about three people who are joint partners on a winning lottery ticket. In 1941, Peter Lorre became a naturalized citizen of the United States. After World War II, Lorre's acting career in Hollywood experienced a downturn, whereupon he concentrated on radio and stage work. In Germany he co-wrote, directed and starred in Der Verlorene (The Lost One) (1951), a critically acclaimed art film in the film noir style. He then returned to the United States where he appeared as a character actor in television and feature films, often spoofing his former "creepy" image. In 1954, he had the distinction of becoming the first actor to play a James Bond villain when he portrayed Le Chiffre in a television adaptation of Casino Royale, opposite Barry Nelson as an American James Bond. (In the spoof-film version of Casino Royale, Ronnie Corbett comments that SPECTRE includes among its agents not only Le Chiffre, but also "Peter Lorre and Bela Lugosi.") Also in 1954, Lorre starred alongside Kirk Douglas and James Mason in the hit-classic 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. In the early 1960s he worked with Roger Corman on several low-budgeted, tongue-in-cheek, and very popular films.
238. Sunday Sermon! Martin Luther King Jr. - I've Been To The Mountaintop http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.82Mb) Description: “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at Mason Temple, Memphis, TN on April 3, 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered this speech in support of the striking sanitation workers at Mason Temple in Memphis, TN on April 3, 1968
239. Suspense Saturday Podcast! 1949-01-27 Robert Montgomery - Thing In The Window http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.52Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Robert Montgomery was in Suspense! Robert Montgomery (May 21, 1904 – September 27, 1981) was an American actor and director. Montgomery was born Henry Montgomery Jr. in Beacon, New York, then known as "Fishkill Landing", the son of Mary Weed (née Barney) and Henry Montgomery, Sr.[1] His early childhood was one of privilege, since his father was president of the New York Rubber Company. When his father died, the family's fortune was gone. Young Robert went to New York City to try his hand at writing and acting. Sharing a stage with George Cukor gave him an in to Hollywood, where, in 1929, he debuted in So This is College. Norma Shearer chose him to star opposite her in Private Lives in 1931, and he became a star. During this time, Montgomery appeared in the first filmed version of When Ladies Meet (1933). In 1935, Montgomery became President of the Screen Actors Guild, and was elected again in 1946. In 1937, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor as a psychopath in the chiller Night Must Fall, and again in 1942 for Here Comes Mr. Jordan. During World War II, he joined the Navy, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. In 1945, he returned to Hollywood, making his uncredited directing debut with They Were Expendable, where he directed some of the PT Boat scenes when director John Ford was unable to work for health reasons. His first credited film as director was Lady in the Lake (1947), in which he also starred, and which brought him mixed reviews. Active in Republican politics, Montgomery was a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. The next year, Montgomery hosted the Academy Awards. He hosted a popular television series, Robert Montgomery Presents, in the 1950s. The Gallant Hours, a 1960 film Montgomery directed and co-produced with its star, his friend James Cagney, was the last film or television production he was connected with in any capacity, as actor, director or producer. Montgomery has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies at 6440 Hollywood Blvd., and another for television at 1631 Vine Street. He was a longtime summer resident of North Haven, Maine.
240. Saturday Screen Guild Director's Playhouse HQ! 1949-01-23 ep003 Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.and Raymond Burr - The Exile http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.67Mb) Description: 60 year ago this week Douglas Fairbanks Jr. appeared on the Screen Director's Playhouse! Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr., KBE, DSC (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II. Hollywood Fairbanks' father was one of cinema's most iconic stars, noted for his comedic and acrobatically swashbuckling adventure films like Robin Hood and The Thief of Bagdad. Largely on the basis of his father's name, Fairbanks, Jr. was given a contract with Paramount Pictures at age 14. After making some undistinguished films, he took to the stage, where he impressed his father, his stepmother Mary Pickford, and Charles Chaplin, who encouraged him to continue with acting. He began his career during the silent film era. He was exceptionally handsome and initially played mainly supporting roles in a range of films featuring many of the leading female players of the day: Belle Bennett in Stella Dallas (1925), Esther Ralston in An American Venus (1926) and Pauline Starke in Women Love Diamonds (1927). In the last years of the silent period he was upped to star billing opposite Loretta Young in several pre-Code films and Joan Crawford in Our Modern Maidens (1929). He supported John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in Woman of Affairs (1929). Progressing to sound, he played opposite Katharine Hepburn in her Oscar-winning role in the film Morning Glory (1933). With Outward Bound (1930), The Dawn Patrol (1930), Little Caesar (1931), and Gunga Din (1939), his movies began to have more commercial success.
241. Friday with Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa Podcast! 1942-10-11 Roland Young - Shrimp Cocktail http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.57Mb) Description: Roland Young (November 11, 1887 - June 5, 1953) was an English actor. Early life and career Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne College, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his first stage appearance in London's West End in Find the Woman in 1908, and in 1912 he made his Broadway debut in Hindle Wakes. He appeared in two comedies written for him by Clare Kummer, Good Gracious Annabelle! (1916), A Successful Calamity (1917) before he served with the United States Army during World War I. He returned to New York when the war ended, and married Kummer's daughter, Frances. For the next few years he alternated between New York and London. He made his film debut in the 1922 silent film Sherlock Holmes, in which he played Watson opposite John Barrymore as Holmes. He signed a contract with MGM and made his talkie debut in The Unholy Night (1929), directed by Lionel Barrymore. He was loaned to Warner Bros. to appear in Her Private Life, with Billie Dove and 20th Century Fox, winning critical approval for his comedic performance as Jeanette MacDonald's husband in Don't Bet on a Woman. He was again paired with MacDonald in the film version of Good Gracious Annabelle!, titled Annabelle's Affairs. He appeared in Cecil B. de Mille's The Squaw Man, and played opposite Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Guardsman (both 1931). He appeared with Evelyn Brent in Columbia's The Pagan Lady (1932) and Pola Negri in RKO's A Woman Commands (1932). His final film under his MGM contract was Lovers Courageous (1932), opposite Robert Montgomery. Success as a free-lance performer Young began to work as a free-lance performer and found himself in constant demand. He appeared with Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Maurice Chevalier in One Hour With You (1932) and with Kay Francis in Street of Women (1932). Alexander Korda invited him to return to England to make his British film debut in Wedding Rehearsal (1932). He returned to Hollywood and appeared in a diverse group of films that included comedies, murder mysteries and dramas, and also worked on Broadway. Among his films of this period, were Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), and as Uriah Heep in David Copperfield (1935). He achieved one of the most important successes of his career, as the businessman Cosmo Topper, haunted by the ghosts of his clients played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. The film was one of the most successful films of the year, and for his comedic performance, Young received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. His wife was played by Billie Burke who wrote in her memoir that Young "was dry and always fun to work with". They also appeared together in The Young in Heart (1938), and the first of the Topper sequels, Topper Takes a Trip (1939). He continued to play supporting roles in comedies such as Yes, My Darling Daughter, with Fay Bainter and Priscilla Lane, but over the next few years the importance of his roles again decreased, but he achieved another success as Katharine Hepburn's uncle in The Philadelphia Story (1940). His last starring role was in the final installment of the Topper series, Topper Returns in 1944, with Billie Burke and Joan Blondell. Later life and career He continued working steadily through the 1940s, playing small roles opposite some of Hollywood's leading actresses, such as Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Paulette Goddard and Greta Garbo in her final film, Two-Faced Woman (1942). In 1945, he began his own radio show and appeared in the film adaption of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. By the end of the decade his film career had declined, and his final films, including The Great Lover (1949), in which he played a murderer opposite Bob Hope, and Fred Astaire's Let's Dance (1950), were not successful. In the 1950s, Young appeared on several episodic television series, including Lux Video Theatre, Studio One, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre. Young has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion picture at 6523 Hollywood Blvd. and another for television at 6315 Hollywood Blvd. Young was married twice, to Marjorie Krummer from 1921 until 1940, and to Patience DuCroz from 1948 until his death in New York City.
242. Phriday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye Podcast! - 1949-01-23 - Preparing To Attend The Inaugural Ball http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 10.16Mb) Description: 60 years ago today, Phil and Alice talked about the politics of change and the Inaugural Ball! Some things change and others not so much...
243. Friday with Fibber McGee and Molly Podcast! HQ 1939-01-24 89 Missing Shirt Collar Button http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.03Mb) Description: 70 years ago this week with Fibber McGee and Molly! Fibber McGee and Molly was a radio show that played a major role in determining the full form of what became classic, old-time radio. The series was a pinnacle of American popular culture from its 1935 premiere until its end in 1959. One of the longest-running comedies in the history of classic radio in the United States, Fibber McGee and Molly has stood the test of time in many ways, transcending the actual or alleged limitations of its medium, form and concurrent culture. From vaudeville to Smackout The genesis of Fibber McGee and Molly occurred when small-time husband-and-wife vaudevillians James "Jim" and Marian Driscoll Jordan, native Illinoisans who met in church, began their third year as Chicago-area radio performers. Two of the shows they did for station WENR beginning in 1927, both written by Harry Lawrence, bore traces of what was to come and rank as one of the earliest forms of situation comedy. In their Luke and Mirandy farm-report program, Jim played a farmer who was given to tall tales and face-saving lies for comic effect. In a weekly comedy, The Smith Family, Marian's character was an Irish wife of an American police officer. These characterizations, plus the Jordans' change from being singers/musicians to comic actors, pointed toward their future. The Jordans teamed with Donald Quinn, an unemployed cartoonist the couple hired as their writer in 1931. For station WMAQ in Chicago, beginning in April 1931, the trio created Smackout, a 15-minute daily program which centered on a general store and its proprietor, Luke Grey (Jim Jordan), a storekeeper with a penchant for tall tales and a perpetual dearth of whatever his customers wanted: He always seemed "smack out of it." Marian Jordan portrayed both a lady named Marian and a little girl named Teeny, as well as playing musical accompaniment on piano. Smackout was picked up for national airing by the National Broadcasting Company in April 1933, and the show endured until August 1935. A member of the S.C. Johnson company's owners, Henrietta Johnson Lewis, married to the advertising executive who handled the Johnson's Wax account, recommended that her husband, John, give the show a chance as a national program for the company. From Smackout to Wistful Vista If Smackout proved the Jordan-Quinn union's viability, their next creation proved immortal. Amplifying Luke Grey's tall talesmanship to braggadocio in a Midwestern layabout, Quinn developed Fibber McGee and Molly, with Jim playing the foible-prone Fibber and Marian playing his patient, common sense, honey-natured wife. The show premiered on NBC April 16, 1935, and, though it took five seasons to become an irrevocable hit, it touched a nerve with enough listeners seeking cheer amid despair. In 1935, Jim Jordan won the Burlington Liars' Club championship with a story about catching an elusive rat.[1] Existing in a kind of Neverland where money never came in, schemes never stayed out for very long, yet no one living or visiting went wanting, 79 Wistful Vista (the McGees' address) became the home Depression-exhausted Americans visited to remind themselves that they were not the only ones finding cheer in the middle of struggle and doing their best not to make it overt. With blowhard McGee wavering between mundane tasks and hare-brained schemes (like digging an oil well in the back yard), antagonizing as many people as possible, and patient Molly indulging his foibles before catching him lovingly as he crashed back to earth yet again, not to mention a tireless parade of neighbours and friends in and out of the quiet home, Fibber McGee and Molly built its audience steadily, but once it found the full volume of that audience in 1940 they rarely let go of it. Marian Jordan took a protracted absence from the show in late 1938-early 1939 (as part of a lifelong battle with alcoholism, although this was attributed to "fatigue" in public statements). The show was retitled Fibber McGee and Company during this interregnum, with scripts cleverly working around Molly's absence (Fibber making a speech at a convention, etc.). Comedienne ZaSu Pitts appeared on the Fibber McGee and Company show, as did singer Donald Novis.
244. Screen Guild Theater Thursday Podcast! 1939-01-22 Bette Davis, Robert Montgomery, and Basil Rathbone - ep003 - Can We Forget http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.94Mb) Description: 70 years ago today, Bette Davis, Basil Rathbone, and Robert Montgomery appeared on the third episode of the Screen Guild Theater! Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theatre. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, though her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas. After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, but her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract and although she lost a well-publicized legal case, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinema's most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and her confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported. Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona which has often been imitated and satirized.
245. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1939-01-22 - Encyclopaedia Britannica http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.42Mb) Description: 70 years ago today! The Britannica is the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print.[3] It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland and quickly grew in popularity and size, with its third edition in 1801 reaching over 21 volumes.[4][5] Its rising stature helped in recruiting eminent contributors, and the 9th edition (1875–1889) and the 11th edition (1911) are regarded as landmark encyclopaedias for scholarship and literary style.[4] Beginning with the 11th edition, the Britannica gradually shortened and simplified its articles in order to broaden its North American market.[4] In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopaedia to adopt a "continuous revision" policy, in which the encyclopaedia is continually reprinted and every article is updated on a regular schedule.[5]
246. Barack Obama - Inaugural Address http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.75Mb) Description: My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you've bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential Oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the Oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights. Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.
247. John F Kennedy - Inaugural Address http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.63Mb) Description: Here is the bar. Did Obama reach it?
248. Franklin Delano Roosevelt - First Inaugural Address http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.54Mb) Description: Some amazing similarities to Obama's speech.
249. Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.43Mb) Description: The Road to the 44th president may not start with this speech, but it was definitely a major part of the journey!
250. Phriday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye Podcast! 1949-01-16 - The Band Is Not Invited To The President's Ball http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.31Mb) Description: From exactly 60 years ago, a very timely episode about an inaugural ball! Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953). As the thirty-fourth vice president, he succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died less than three months after he began his fourth term. During World War I Truman served as an artillery officer. After the war he became part of the political machine of Tom Pendergast and was elected a county commissioner in Missouri and eventually a United States Senator. After he gained national prominence as head of the wartime Truman Committee, Truman replaced vice president Henry A. Wallace as Roosevelt's running mate in 1944. Truman faced challenge after challenge in domestic affairs. The disorderly reconversion of the economy of the United States was marked by severe shortages, numerous strikes, and the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act over his veto. He confounded all predictions to win re-election in 1948, helped by his famous Whistle Stop Tour of rural America. After his re-election he was able to pass only one of the proposals in his Fair Deal program. He used executive orders to begin desegregation of the U.S. armed forces and to launch a system of loyalty checks to remove thousands of communist sympathizers from government office, even though he strongly opposed mandatory loyalty oaths for governmental employees, a stance that led to charges that his administration was soft on communism. Truman's presidency was also eventful in foreign affairs, with the end of World War II and his decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan, the founding of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, the Truman Doctrine to contain communism, the beginning of the Cold War, the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Korean War. Corruption in Truman's administration reached the cabinet and senior White House staff. Republicans made corruption a central issue in the 1952 campaign. Truman, whose demeanor was very different from that of the patrician Roosevelt, was a folksy, unassuming president. He popularized such phrases as "The buck stops here" and "If you can't stand the heat, you better get out of the kitchen."[1] He overcame the low expectations of many political observers who compared him unfavorably with his highly regarded predecessor. At different points in his presidency, Truman earned both the highest and the lowest public approval ratings that had ever been recorded.[2][3][4] Despite negative public opinion during his term in office, popular and scholarly assessments of his presidency became more positive after his retirement from politics and the publication of Truman's memoirs. Truman's legendary upset victory in 1948 over Thomas E. Dewey is routinely invoked by underdog presidential candidates. Truman has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.
251. Friday with Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa! 1942-10-04 1st half our show - Charles Laughton, the Andrew Sisters, and Arthur Godfrey http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.14Mb) Description: We've lost Kenny Baker for awhile, but this "new" half hour format is quite a bit friendlier to modern podcast listeners! he Andrews Sisters were a close harmony singing group, consisting of sisters LaVerne Sophie Andrews (contralto; July 6, 1911–May 8, 1967), Maxene Angelyn Andrews (soprano; January 3, 1916–October 21, 1995), and Patricia Marie (a.k.a. Patty) Andrews (mezzo-soprano; lead; born February 16, 1918). All were born in Minnesota to a Greek immigrant father and a Norwegian American mother. History Patty, the youngest and the lead singer of the group, was only seven when the group was formed, and just twelve years old when they won first prize at a talent contest at the local Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, where LaVerne played piano accompaniment for the silent film showings in exchange for free dancing lessons for herself and her sisters. Once the sisters found fame and settled in California, their parents lived with them in a Brentwood estate until their deaths, and several cousins from Minnesota followed them west. The sisters returned to Minneapolis at least once a year to visit family and friends and/or perform. They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring in vaudeville with the likes of comic bandleader Larry Rich, also known as Dick Rich (Dick Rich was actually one of Larry's younger brothers), Ted Mack, and Leon Belasco, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937, most notably via their major Decca record hit, Bei Mir Bist Du Schöen (translation: To me, you are beautiful),[1] originally a Yiddish tune, the lyrics of which Sammy Cahn had translated to English and which the girls harmonized to perfection. It sold a million copies, making them the first female vocal group to achieve a Gold Record award. They followed this success with a string of best-selling records over the next two years and they became a household name by 1940.
252. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1939-01-15 - The Lunch Counter http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.17Mb) Description: 70 years ago today! Ed Beloin did a brilliant job as the lunch counter attendant! He was also one of Jack's best writers! This episode is in my top five of all time!
253. Hump day with Bob Hope Podcast! 1939-03-07 - Guest - Judy Garland http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.22Mb) Description: Judy Garland had a very prolific career on the radio. As a matter of fact, she had been a veteran of radio long before she signed her first contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made her first Decca recordings. In spite of the fact that Judy was extremely popular as a radio personality, this is the one aspect of her career that is the most under-documented and under-rated. Before MGM put Judy in their films, they used radio to introduce her to audiences and gauge her appeal. Several years later, Judy herself would use radio to stretch her dramatic skills by playing the types of straight dramatic roles she was never allowed to at the studio. Judy's radio career gives us a treasure trove of great Garland performances. Judy interacts with the big celebrities of the day, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, even Charlie McCarthy, all in a relaxed atmosphere. These shows also gave Judy the chance to test herself vocally and grow by trying out various vocal stylings that she never was allowed to do try in her films. Most importantly, Judy was able to interact with her first love, the audience. In this case, the studio audience. Nonetheless, this interaction with the studio audiences would prove crucial when Judy embarked on her legendary concert years.
254. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1959-01-18 The Kangaroo Court http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.72Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week! Just listened to this, and don't let the title fool you - it's a great dark show, written by John Meston!
255. Hallmark Playhouse Podcast! 1949-01-06 029 Robert Young - McClouds Folly.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.62Mb) Description: Robert George Young (February 22, 1907 - July 21, 1998) was an Emmy Award winning American actor, best known for his leading roles of Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best (NBC and then CBS) and physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. (ABC). Hollywood career After appearing on stage, Young was signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)—the studio that had more stars than in the heavens—and in spite of having a "tier B" status, he co-starred with some of the studio's most illustrious actresses such as Margaret Sullavan, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Helen Hayes, Luise Rainer, and Helen Twelvetrees, among many, many others. Yet most of his assignments comprised B-movies, also known as programmers, which required a mere two to three weeks of shooting. Actors who were relegated to such a hectic schedule appeared, as Young did, in some six to eight movies per year. As an MGM contract player, Young was resigned to the fate of most of his colleagues—to accept any film assigned to him or risk being placed on suspension—and many actors on suspension were prohibited from earning a salary from any endeavor at all (even those unrelated to the film industry). In 1936, MGM summarily loaned Young to Gaumont-British for two films; the first was directed by Alfred Hitchcock with the other co-starring the luminous Jessie Matthews, and while there he surmised that his employers intended to terminate his contract. But he was mistaken. He unexpectedly received one of his most rewarding roles late in his MGM career, in H.M. Pulham, Esq., featuring one of Hedy Lamarr's rarely lauded performances, and once remarked that he was assigned only those roles which Robert Montgomery and other A-list actors had rejected. After his contract at MGM ended, Young starred in light comedies as well as in trenchant dramas for studios such as 20th Century Fox, United Artists, and RKO. From 1943, Young assayed more challenging roles in films like Claudia, The Enchanted Cottage, They Won't Believe Me, The Second Woman, and Crossfire. His portrayal of unsympathetic characters in several of these latter films — which seldom occurred in his MGM pictures — was applauded by numerous reviewers. Young appeared in 100 movies in a film career that spanned 1931 to 1952. [edit] Television Young is best known for his role in Father Knows Best (1949-1954 on radio, 1954-1960 on television), for which he and his co-star, Jane Wyatt, won several Emmy Awards. Young then created, produced, and starred with Ford Rainey and Constance Moore in the nostalgia CBS comedy series Window on Main Street (1961–1962) which only lasted six months. Film star Tim Matheson, then thirteen, got his acting start on the series. Young later became famous for Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969–1976) for which he won an Emmy for best leading actor in a drama series. Young became so well identified with his wise doctor persona that he became famous as the commercial spokesman for an aspirin product, saying, "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV" while wearing a lab coat.[1] He continued making television commercials until the late 1980s. Young has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for film at 6933 Hollywood Blvd and one for television at 6358.
256. Jack Benny Podcast! 1949-01-09 - Lunch at the Brown Derby with Jimmy Stewart! http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.96Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Jimmy Stewart was the brilliantly funny guest star on the Jack Benny Show! Jimmy Stewart always loved the radio and appeared in many shows over a period of 66 years. He frequently made appearances on Lux Radio Theater, including a dramatization of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He also played many parts in Screen Guild Theater. Stewart also hosted Good News of 1938 and 1939, which was an outlet to promote MGM stars’ new pictures and personalities. In 1948, James Stewart made his homecoming performance on Theater Guild of the Air in "The Philadelphia Story." He also appeared in several variety shows such as Bing Crosby and Bob Hope’s shows. In the 1950s, he went on to star in a popular western radio show, Six Shooter. He also often appeared on the Jack Benny Radio and TV show.
257. Sunday Sermon! 2008-01-13 Mike Stelle - Call Of Abram http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.35Mb) Description: Have a great Sunday!
258. Saturday with Screeen Director's Playhouse Podcast! 1949-01-09 ep001 John Wayne - Stagecoach http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.11Mb) Description: Stagecoach is a 1939 western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory. Although Ford had made many silent films in the Western genre prior to Stagecoach, this was his first with sound. It was also the first of many films which Ford made on location in Monument Valley, in the American southwest on the Arizona-Utah border, many of which also starred John Wayne. Plot In Arizona Territory in 1880, a motley group of strangers boards the east-bound stagecoach to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory. Among them is Dallas (Claire Trevor), a prostitute who is being driven out of town by the members of the "Law and Order League"; an alcoholic doctor, Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell); Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), who is traveling to see her cavalry officer husband; and whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock (Donald Meek). When the stage driver, Buck (Andy Devine), looks for his normal shotgun guard, he is told by Marshal Curly Wilcox (George Bancroft) that he has gone out to look for a fugitive, the Ringo Kid (John Wayne). Buck tells Marshal Wilcox that Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler) is in Lordsburg. Knowing that the Kid has vowed to avenge the deaths of his father and brother at Plummer's hands, the marshal decides to ride along. As they start to pull out, U.S. cavalry Lieutenant Blanchard (Tim Holt) informs them that Geronimo and his Apaches are on the warpath, and that they will have no escort until they get to Dry Fork. Gambler and Southern gentleman Hatfield (John Carradine) joins them to provide protection for Mrs. Mallory. At the edge of town, the stage is flagged down by pompous banker Henry Gatewood, (Berton Churchill), who is sneaking away with $50,000 embezzled from his bank. Along the way, they come across the Ringo Kid, whose horse had become lame and left him afoot. Even though they are friends, Curly has no choice but to take Ringo into custody. As the trip progresses, Ringo takes a strong liking to Dallas. When they reach Dry Fork, they are informed that the expected cavalry detachment has moved on to Apache Wells. The passengers vote on whether to press on or turn back. With only Peacock objecting, they go on and reach Apache Wells. There, Mrs. Mallory faints when she hears that her husband had been wounded in battle. She begins to go into labor. Doc Boone is called upon to help her through her childbirth. Eventually, Dallas emerges with a healthy baby. Later that night, Ringo asks Dallas to marry him. She does not give him an immediate answer, afraid to reveal her checkered past, but the next morning, she agrees to marry him if he promises to give up his plan to take on the Plummers. Encouraged by Dallas, Ringo makes a break for it, but turns back when he sees signs of Indians. When they reach Lee's Ferry, they find the station and the ferry burned down and the people either dead or having fled. They tie large logs to each side of the stagecoach and float it across the river. Just when they think that they are in the clear, the stagecoach is chased by the Apaches. Curly releases the Kid from his handcuffs to help fight them off. During a long chase, when things look bleak, Hatfield is about to kill Mrs. Mallory with his last bullet to save her from being taken alive when he is fatally wounded. Just then, the U.S. cavalry charges to the rescue. When the passengers finally arrive in Lordsburg, Gatewood is arrested by the local sheriff, and Lucy is told that her husband's wound is not serious. Dallas begs Ringo not to go up against the Plummers, but he is determined to settle matters. In the ensuing shootout, the Kid dispatches Luke and his two brothers. He returns to Wilcox, expecting to go back to jail. He asks the lawman to take Dallas to his ranch. However, when Ringo gets on a wagon to say goodbye to her, Curly and Doc laugh and start the horses moving, letting him "escape". [edit]Origins The screenplay is an adaptation by Dudley Nichols of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a short story by Ernest Haycox. The rights to "Lordsburg" were bought by John Ford soon after it was published in Colliers Illustrated on 10 April 1937.[1] According to Thomas Schatz, Ford claimed that his inspiration in expanding Stagecoach beyond the barebones plot given in "The Stage to Lordsburg" was his familiarity with another short story, "Boule de Suif" by Guy de Maupassant.[2] Schatz believes "this scarcely holds up to scrutiny"[3] and argues that a more likely inspiration was Bret Harte's 1892 short story The Outcasts of Poker Flat. Ford's claim also seems to be the basis for claiming that Haycox himself relied upon Guy de Maupassant's story. However, there appears to be no concrete evidence for Haycox actually being familiar with the earlier story, especially as he was documented as going out of his way to avoid reading the work of others that might unconsciously influence his writing, and he focused his personal reading in the area of history.
259. Friday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye Podcast! 1949-01-09 - The Engagement Ring http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.88Mb) Description: From exactly 60 years ago today!
260. Friday with Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, and Kenny Baker Podcast! 1942-06-28 - Judy Canova - Last Show of Season http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.53Mb) Description: Born Juliette Canova in Starke, Florida, her show business career began with a family vaudeville routine. She joined her sister Annie and brother Zeke, and their performances as the Three Georgia Crackers took them from theaters in Florida to a club in Manhattan. Judy Canova sang, yodeled and played guitar. The standout in the family, she had once aspired to a serious musical career. Instead, she was typed as a wide-eyed likeable country bumpkin, often barefooted, and wearing her hair in braids, sometimes topped with a straw hat, and her hayseed character developed as radio's female equivalent of comedian Bob Burns's smalltown sage. When bandleader Rudy Vallee offered her a guest spot on his radio show, The Fleischmann Hour, it opened the door to a career that spanned more than five decades. Radio and films The popularity of the Canova family led to numerous performances on radio in the 1930s, and they made their Broadway debut in the revue Calling All Stars. An offer from Warner Bros. led to several bit parts before she signed with Republic Pictures. During her career, she recorded for the RCA Victor label and appeared in more than two dozen Hollywood films, including Scatterbrain (1940), Joan of Ozark (1942) and Lay That Rifle Down (1955). The Judy Canova Show began on CBS in 1943 and moved to NBC in 1945. In 1943, she began her own radio program, The Judy Canova Show, that ran for 12 years—first on CBS and then on NBC. Playing herself as a love-starved Ozark bumpkin dividing her time between home and Southern California, Canova was accompanied by a cast that included voicemaster Mel Blanc as Pedro (using the accented voice he later gave the cartoons' Speedy Gonzales), Ruth Perrott as Aunt Aggie, Ruby Dandridge as Geranium, Joseph Kearns as Benchley Botsford and Sharon Douglas as Brenda—with Gale Gordon, Sheldon Leonard and Hans Conried also making periodic appearances. The Sportsmen Quartet joined the show in 1943 and backed Judy on most of her songs, and the Charles Dant Orchestra provided the rest, usually supporting Canova's country warble. During World War II, she closed her show with the song "Goodnight, Soldier" ("Wherever you may be... my heart's lonely... without you") and used her free time to sell U.S. War Bonds. After the war, she introduced a new closing theme that she once said she remembered her own mother singing to her when she was a small child: Go to sleep-y, little baby, Go to sleep-y, little baby, When you wake You'll patty-patty cake, And ride a shiny little pony. Canova recorded the song in 1946. While a hit with her own show, Canova made frequent appearances on other popular radio programs of the day, including and especially those hosted by Abbott and Costello and Fred Allen.
261. Theater Thursday Podcast! Hallmark Playhouse 1948-11-18 022 Jack Benny in My Financial Career http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.01Mb) Description: Here's Jack from the Hallmark Playhouse! I hope you have enjoyed today's Jack Benny triple feature!
262. Screen Guild Theater Thursday Podcast! 1939-01-08 ep001 Jack Benny in Variety Review 1 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.84Mb) Description: Above: Jack Benny, George Murphy, Joan Crawford and Reginald Gardiner share some laughs at the "The Screen Guild Theater" in 1939. 70 years ago today, right after his own broadcast Jack ran over to do this inaugural broadcast of the Screen Guild Theater with Joan Crawford and Judy Garland! January 8, 1939 - "The Screen Guild Theater" - 30 minutes - Joan appears alongside, Judy Garland and Jack Benny. This was Joan's third radio performance with a young Judy Garland. 1939 was a banner year for both stars, Judy Garland cemented her career with "The Wizard of Oz" and Joan revitalized her career with the smash hit "The Women." Jack Benny, known for his comedic genius, appeared in "Hollywood Revue of 1929" and "Hollywood Canteen" as did Joan Crawford. Also featured in this broadcast were George Murphy, Reginald Gardiner, Ralph Morgan and the Oscar Bradley Orchestra.
263. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1939-01-08 - Snow White and the Seven Gangsters Again http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.90Mb) Description: This episode is from 70 years ago today! Disney's wife, Lillian, told him: "No one's ever gonna pay a dime to see a dwarf picture."[5] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937 to a wildly receptive audience, many of whom were the same naysayers who dubbed the film "Disney's Folly." The film received a standing ovation at its completion from a star-studded audience that included such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Jack Benny, Fred MacMurray, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Burns and Allen, Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, John Barrymore, and Marlene Dietrich. Six days later, Walt Disney and his magical seven dwarfs appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The New York Times said "Thank you very much, Mr. Disney." RKO Radio Pictures put the film into general release on February 4, 1938, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making more money than any other motion picture in 1938. In fact, for a short time, Snow White was the highest-grossing film in American cinema history; it was ousted from that spot by Gone with the Wind in 1939. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film still registers one of the top ten American film moneymakers of all time. [6] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature film to be made (not counting the Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons), and won an honorary Academy Award for Walt Disney "as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field." Disney received a full-size Oscar statuette and seven miniature ones, presented to him by 10-year-old child actress Shirley Temple. The film was also nominated for Best Musical Score. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" has become a jazz standard that has been performed by numerous artists, including Buddy Rich, Lee Wiley, Oscar Peterson, and Miles Davis. Noted filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Charlie Chaplin praised Snow White as a notable achievement in cinema.[7] The film inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce its own fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz in 1939. The 1943 Merrie Melodies short Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, directed by Bob Clampett, parodies Snow White by presenting the story with an all-black cast singing a jazz score. Snow White was such a success that Disney went on to produce 18 more full-length animated feature films during his lifetime.[8] It has been well documented[citation needed] that Adolf Hitler watched this film with a roomful of children, and was delighted by Disney's adaptation of the German fairy tale. Hitler supposedly offered Disney anything he wanted in exchange for Disney's creation of feature-length animated features in Germany. Though this is the basis for the Walt Disney as a Nazi rumors, Disney's biographer Bob Thomas proves that Disney declined Hitler's invitation, and in fact soon entered production on such anti-German projects as Der Fuehrer's Face and Victory Through Air Power. On February 22, 2008, William Hakvaag, owner of Lofoten War Museum, said he found four watercolor paintings with Disney motifs hidden inside a painting signed "A. Hitler" that he purchased at auction.[9] Three of them featured dwarfs and Hakvaag claims these have been signed by Hitler himself,[9] while the last one was an unsigned painting of Pinocchio.
264. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1959-01-04 352 Joseph Kearns in The Coward http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.66Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week there was Gunsmoke! Joseph Kearns (February 12, 1907 – February 17, 1962) was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as Mr. Wilson in the 1960s television series Dennis the Menace. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, his family moved to California when he was very young. He went to college at the University of Utah, where he earned his tuition by teaching a course in theatrical makeup. Kearns started out in radio and theatre as a pipe organist; years later, he even built his Hollywood home around a Wurlitzer theater pipe organ. He began his acting career in radio in the 1930s (playing the Crazyquilt Dragon in the serial "The Cinnamon Bear"), becoming especially active during the 1940s, with appearances on the shows The Adventures of Sam Spade, Burns and Allen, and Silver Theater, amongst many others. On Suspense, he was almost a mainstay, heard regularly as the host "The Man in Black" in the early years, announcing many episodes in the later run, and playing supporting and occasional lead roles in hundreds of shows throughout the series' tenure in Hollywood, from judges to kindly old-timers to cowards. His best-remembered radio role was that of Ed, the security guard for Jack Benny's underground money vault, on The Jack Benny Program. The 'running gag' was that Benny had kept Ed on duty at the vault's door so long that the guard was not up to speed on current events; when Benny informed him that "The War (World War II) had ended," Ed asked whether the "North" or the "South" had won, assuming that the American Civil War was the one Benny was referring to. He was also the first actor to play the part of Matt Grebb, one of a pair of police detectives in the radio version of the procedural cop series The Lineup, relinquishing the role to Wally Maher in 1951. Joseph Kearns made his onscreen film debut in Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951). He was the voice of the Doorknob in Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland (1951). Kearns appeared in several other movies, making his final film appearance as the crime photographer in Anatomy of a Murder (1959). On television, Kearns reprised his radio roles on Jack Benny's TV series, and also appeared on Our Miss Brooks (1953-55) as Superintendent Stone (a role he had also played on radio). But he is best remembered as the long-suffering neighbor Mr. George Wilson in Dennis the Menace (1959-62), which was based on the popular comic strip by Hank Ketcham. Kearns died in the middle of the third season of Dennis from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was replaced by Gale Gordon, who played George Wilson's brother John. Strangely enough, the last episode that aired before his death, "Where There's a Will," was about Mr. Wilson making out a will and having to explain to Dennis that Dennis would inherit Mr. Wilson's gold watch when he dies. In the show's storyline, it was explained that George and Martha Wilson were taking a cruise trip and John Wilson was caring for their home while they were away. When the series returned for the fourth season that fall, John Wilson had his wife, Eloise, living there with him, and there was no further reference to George and Martha.
265. Hump day with Bob Hope! 1938-11-08 - Guest - Chico Marx http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.66Mb) Description: He was originally nicknamed Chicko due to his reputation as a ladies man, or a "chicken chaser" in the popular slang of the day. A typesetter accidentally dropped the "k" in his name and it became Chico. It was still pronounced [tʃɪkoʊ] although those who were unaware of its origin tended to pronounce it [ʃiːkoʊ]. Radio recordings from the 1940s exist where announcers and fellow actors mispronounce the nickname, but Chico apparently felt it was unnecessary to correct them. As late as the 1950s, even Groucho used the wrong pronunciation for comedic effect. A guest on You Bet Your Life told the quizmaster she came from Chico, California and Groucho responded that he had a brother named "Cheek-oh." (Chico can sometimes be spotted in cutaways to the studio audience, out of character and costume.) Marx used an Italian accent for his on-stage character; stereotyped ethnic characters were common with Vaudeville comedians. All the Marx brothers at some point in their careers performed "dialect characters," but Chico was the only one to continue this into his films. The obvious fact that he was not really Italian was referenced twice on film. In their second feature, Animal Crackers, he recognizes someone he knows to be a shady character, impersonating a respected art collector: Chico: "How did you get to be Roscoe W. Chandler?" Chandler: "How did you get to be Italian?" Chico: "Never mind—whose confession is this?" In A Night at the Opera, which begins in Italy, his character, Fiorello, claims to not be Italian, eliciting a surprised look from Groucho: Driftwood: "Well, things certainly seem to be getting better around the country." Fiorello: "Well, I wouldn't know about that; I'm a stranger here myself." Chico was a talented pianist. He originally started playing with only his right hand and fake playing with his left, as his teacher did so herself. Chico eventually got a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly. As a young boy, he would get jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family. Sometimes Chico would even get work playing in two places at the same time. He would acquire the job with his piano-playing skills, work for a few nights, and then substitute Harpo on one of the jobs. (During their boyhood, Chico and Harpo looked so much alike they were often mistaken for each other.) In the brothers' last film, Love Happy, Chico plays a piano and violin duet with 'Mr. Lyons' (Leon Belasco). Lyons plays some ornate riffs on the violin; Chico comments, "Look-a, Mister Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but please—don't-a play better than me!" In a record album about the Marx Brothers, narrator Gary Owens stated that "although Chico's technique was limited, his repertoire was not." The opposite was true of Harpo, who reportedly could only play two tunes on the piano, which typically thwarted Chico's scam and resulted in both brothers being fired. Groucho Marx one time said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played. Before performances he would soak his fingers in hot water before going on instead. He was known for 'shooting' the keys of the piano. As part of the act he would play passages with his thumb up and index finger straight — like a gun (he appears in the film A Year to Remember (1948) playing an extraordinary "shooting" version of the famous Australian song "Waltzing Matilda" to a group of Australian soldiers). Another charming example of his keyboard flamboyance is found in A Night at the Opera. He captivates a group of children whose faces light up with his digital acrobatics. The looks of glee on their faces is reminiscent of Alfred Eisenstaedt's "Children at Puppet Theatre", an example of pure childhood pleasure, and suggests that they were not acting. Chico became manager of the Marx Brothers after their mother, Minnie, died. [1] As manager he cut a deal to get the Marx Brothers a percentage of a film's gross receipts — the first of its kind in Hollywood. Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg of MGM which led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup (1933), made at Paramount Pictures. For a while in the 1930s and 1940s Chico led a big band. Singer Mel Tormé began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra. Chico Marx was a compulsive womanizer, and had a lifelong gambling habit. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer asked him how much money he'd lost from gambling, he answered, "Find out how much money Harpo's got. That's how much I've lost." Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico's death, said, "Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed." Chico's lifelong gambling addiction compelled him to continue in show business long after his brothers had retired in comfort from their Hollywood income, and in the early 40s he found himself playing in the same small, cheap halls in which he had begun his career 30 years previously. Grave of Chico Marx. The Marx Brothers' second-to-last film, A Night in Casablanca was made for Chico's benefit. Because of his gambling, the brothers finally took the money as he earned it and put him on an allowance, on which he stayed until his death. He had a reputation as a world-class pinochle player. His brother Groucho said Chico would throw away good cards (with the knowledge of spectators) to make the play "more interesting." Chico's last public appearance was in 1960, playing cards on a television show, Celebrity Bridge. He and his partner lost the game, but it did not seem to bother him at all.
266. Orson Welles Wednesday Podcast! JACK BENNY - 1943-03-14 - Orson Welles Subs for Jack - Week 1 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.50Mb) Description: When Jack Benny came down with Pneumonia in 1943 he first had George Burns and Gracie Allen fill in for him as hosts of his show, then for the next month he had Orson Welles host his show. Jack's writers did a brilliant job for Orson, and many consider this to be the best ever guest hosting of any show in history. I agree, amazingly the writers made the show fresh and funny each week during Jack's absence, and Orson performed brilliantly throughout.
267. Duffy's Tavern Tuesday Podcast! 1943-11-09 - guest Lucille Ball http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.71Mb) Description: Sorry no Desi,but here's Lucy!
268. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight! - 1937-01-24 - Jack Practices the Bee.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.81Mb) Description: More of the early Fred Allen feud! Is it me or does Fred look like a giant in this picture, while Jack looks like he is about three feet tall?
269. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) Podcast! 1949-01-07 0026 Over Budget Beans http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.32Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week. Tune in tomorrow to hear what Desi Arnaz was doing 60 years ago this week as the guest on Duffy's Tavern!
270. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1949-01-02 - First Show for CBS http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.14Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week Jack moved to CBS!
271. Sci-Fi Sunday! Suspense! 1962-02-11 The Man Who Went Back to Save Lincoln http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.61Mb) Description: Some Suspense Sci-Fi from the tail end of the Old Time Radio era!
272. Sunday Sermon! 2008-11-30 Mike Stelle - Advent With Mary The Third Response http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.24Mb) Description: Have a great Sunday!
273. Suspense Saturday Podcast! 1949-01-06 Gene Kelly in To Find Help http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.23Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week! Famed Dancer Gene Kelly kept us in suspense! Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen. Although he is probably best known today for his performance in Singin' in the Rain, he was a dominant force in Hollywood musical films from the mid 1940s until their demise in the late 1950s. His many innovations transformed the Hollywood musical film, and he is credited with almost singlehandedly making the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences.[1] Kelly was the recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors, and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute; in 1999, the American Film Institute also named him among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
274. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1939-01-01 - Goodbye 1938 Hello 1939! http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.20Mb) Description: 70 years ago today! Fantastic episode! Happy New Year!
275. Orson Welles Wednesday Podcast! 1940-03-17 Jack Benny Guest Orson Welles http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.95Mb) Description: Welcome to Wednesday with Orson Welles today guest starring on the Jack Benny show!
276. Hump day with Bob Hope Podcast! 1948-12-28 - Guests - Irving Berlin & Jimmy Doolittle & Jinx Falkenberg http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.45Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week with Bob Hope.
277. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1958-12-28_351_The Choice http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.43Mb) Description: 50 years ago this week!
278. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1937-01-03 - Beginning of the Feud and Buck Benny 4 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.94Mb) Description: This is the first response of Jack Benny to Fred Allen's derogatory comments made on his show about Jack's violin playing. It is considered by many to be the start of the great Jack Benny Fred Allen feud.
279. JACK BENNY - 1948-12-26 - Last Show for NBC http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.29Mb) Description: From 60 years ago this week. Jack's last show with NBC before switching to CBS!
280. Sunday Sermon Podcast! 1984-12-30 John Bergman - Let God http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 11.95Mb) Description: From a snowy Sunday a quarter century ago, I bring you another sermon from John Bergman. This will be his last Sermon that I share for awhile, I hope you enjoy it, he was a special man.
281. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1948-12-23 Closed Circuit - Moving to CBS (Rare) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.65Mb) Description: While Benny was top of the proverbial heap on NBC, CBS czar William S. Paley cast a hungry eye upon the comedian. Paley apparently had good reason to believe Benny could be had: he learned that NBC refused to deal with Benny in terms of buying Benny's holding company package (a tax break major entertainers usually enjoyed in those years), since "Jack Benny" was the star's real name. Paley reached out to Benny and offered him a deal that would allow that package-buy – a tremendous capital gains tax break for Benny at a time when World War II had meant taxes as high as 90% at certain high income levels. But Paley, according to CBS historiographer Robert Metz, also learned that Benny chafed under what he came to see as NBC's almost indifferent attitude toward the talent that brought the listeners. NBC, under the leadership of David Sarnoff, seemed at the time to think that listeners were listening to NBC because of NBC itself. To Paley, according to Metz, that was foolish thinking at best: Paley believed listeners were listening because of the talent, not because of which platform hosted them. When Paley said as much to Benny, the comedian agreed. Because Paley also took a personal interest in the Benny negotiations, as opposed to Sarnoff (who had actually never met his top-rated star), Benny was convinced at last to make the jump – and, in turn, he convinced a number of his fellow NBC performers (notably Burns & Allen and Kate Smith) to join him. To sweeten the deal for a very nervous sponsor, Paley also agreed to make up the difference to American Tobacco if Benny's Hooper rating (the radio version of today's Nielsens) on CBS fell a certain level below his best NBC Hooper rating. But Benny's CBS debut bested his top NBC rating by several points. NBC, for its part, its smash Sunday night lineup now broken up in earnest, became nervous enough to offer prompt and lucrative new deals to two of those Sunday night hits, The Fred Allen Show and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show (Benny's former bandleader and his singing actress wife now starred in their own hit sitcom), before they, too, got any ideas about jumping ship. The ironic postscript, according to Metz: Benny and Sarnoff finally met, several years later, and became good friends, with Benny saying that if he could have had this kind of relationship with Sarnoff all those years earlier, when he was Sarnoff's number one radio star, he never would have left NBC in the first place.
282. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1948-12-22 Unbroadcast Rare CBS Special!. http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.94Mb) Description: While Benny was top of the proverbial heap on NBC, CBS czar William S. Paley cast a hungry eye upon the comedian. Paley apparently had good reason to believe Benny could be had: he learned that NBC refused to deal with Benny in terms of buying Benny's holding company package (a tax break major entertainers usually enjoyed in those years), since "Jack Benny" was the star's real name. Paley reached out to Benny and offered him a deal that would allow that package-buy – a tremendous capital gains tax break for Benny at a time when World War II had meant taxes as high as 90% at certain high income levels. But Paley, according to CBS historiographer Robert Metz, also learned that Benny chafed under what he came to see as NBC's almost indifferent attitude toward the talent that brought the listeners. NBC, under the leadership of David Sarnoff, seemed at the time to think that listeners were listening to NBC because of NBC itself. To Paley, according to Metz, that was foolish thinking at best: Paley believed listeners were listening because of the talent, not because of which platform hosted them. When Paley said as much to Benny, the comedian agreed. Because Paley also took a personal interest in the Benny negotiations, as opposed to Sarnoff (who had actually never met his top-rated star), Benny was convinced at last to make the jump – and, in turn, he convinced a number of his fellow NBC performers (notably Burns & Allen and Kate Smith) to join him. To sweeten the deal for a very nervous sponsor, Paley also agreed to make up the difference to American Tobacco if Benny's Hooper rating (the radio version of today's Nielsens) on CBS fell a certain level below his best NBC Hooper rating. But Benny's CBS debut bested his top NBC rating by several points. NBC, for its part, its smash Sunday night lineup now broken up in earnest, became nervous enough to offer prompt and lucrative new deals to two of those Sunday night hits, The Fred Allen Show and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show (Benny's former bandleader and his singing actress wife now starred in their own hit sitcom), before they, too, got any ideas about jumping ship. The ironic postscript, according to Metz: Benny and Sarnoff finally met, several years later, and became good friends, with Benny saying that if he could have had this kind of relationship with Sarnoff all those years earlier, when he was Sarnoff's number one radio star, he never would have left NBC in the first place.
283. Sci-Fi Sunday - X Minus One! 1956-03-07 A Gun For Dinosaur.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 12.79Mb) Description: Wow if you liked Jurassic Park, this is right up you alley! Dinosaurs, big guns, and mayhem! Nice script and acting! One of my favorite Sci-Fi episodes ever!
284. 12-23-1984 John Bergman (Christmas Sermon) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.04Mb) Description: A sermon from a quarter century ago, from a good friend that went home to be with the Lord this year.
285. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1941-12-14 - Christmas Shopping (Horseradish) http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.74Mb) Description: Rarest of the Christmas shopping episodes, just one week after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
286. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1941-12-07 Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll - Pearl Harbor http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.62Mb) Description: Jack Benny episode broadcast on the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
287. Christmas OTR Podcast! Bing Crosby Show 1942-12-24.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.93Mb) Description: What's Christmas with out a little Bing? One year after Pearl Harbor!
288. Sci Fi Sunday - Suspense Podcast! 1955-07-12 Kaleidoscope http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.53Mb) Description: Join the cast of Gunsmoke for a great Sci-Fi adventure written by Ray Bradbury!
289. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-12-11 - Christmas Shopping in New York http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.35Mb) Description: 70 years ago today!
290. Christmas OTR Podcast! Screen Director's Playhouse-1949-05-08-It's A Wonderful Life http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.73Mb) Description: It's a Wonderful Life starring Jimmy Stewart! This is my favorite version, introduced by Frank Capra himself, they couldn't get "Clarence," so they got the guy that does the voice of Elmer Fudd, Arthur Q. Bryan, and I kid you not, "Clarence" is done with the total Elmer Fudd voice the whole time. This is beautiful sounding copy, that could have been recorded yesterday! It's also got a great chat at the end with Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart bantering a bit!
291. Christmas OTR Podcast! DUFFY'S TAVERN - 1950-12-22? Christmas Skit http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.02Mb) Description: Tuesday and it's time for Christmas in the Tavern!
292. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1948-12-05 - Professor La Blanc Gives Jack a Violin Lesson http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.87Mb) Description: Welcome to another Sunday Night at Seven with Jack Benny, 60 Years ago this week! Professor LaBlanc is already trying to kill himself, but jack wants his lesson. We take a trip to the vault with Ed, and have a discussion about the presidential election, no not the one with Obama, but the one with Dewey and Truman (pictured here with Jack)! Dennis tells us about going to the USC game that Bob Hope talked about on his show from Wednesday! Fun episode for sure!
293. Sci-Fi Sunday Suspense Podcast! 1953-02-02 Jack Benny in Plan X http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.06Mb) Description: Join Jack Benny on a Sci-Fi adventure! The fifties are when science fiction on radio came of age. America was facing a different threat, nuclear in nature. Instead of looking to the stars and seeing monsters, it began to look to the stars and see possibilities. At the start of the decade, there were at least four series for adults plus several for children. The first adult science fiction series to make it to radio was 2000 Plus. At the same time were NBC's Dimension X and CBS' Beyond Tomorrow. Dimension X used stories mostly by the best of the science fiction writers of the day. Others in the series were by the scriptwriting team of George Lefferts and Ernest Kinoy. While 2000 Plus was the first, it was Dimension X that shined. With excellent scriptwriters adapting stories of excellent science fiction writers, this series stood above its competition. Van Woodward, the producer said "We went the adaptation route simply bcause that's where the best stories are. Bright ideas for science fiction tales don't come on order; they're usually the product of a moment's inspiration, by a writer who is steeped in the field."
294. Suspense on Saturday Podcast! 1951-04-05 Jack Benny in Murder In G Flat http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.17Mb) Description: Thought we would add some Suspense to your Saturday! Today's episode stars, of course, the great Jack Benny! Suspense's heyday was in the early 1950s, when radio actor, producer and director Elliott Lewis took over (still during the Wilcox/Autolite run). Here the material reached new levels of sophistication. The writing was taut, and the casting, which had always been a strong point of the series (featuring such film stars as Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Colman and Cary Grant), took an unexpected turn when Lewis expanded the repertory to include many of radio's famous drama and comedy stars — often playing against type — such as Jack Benny and Jim and Marian Jordan of Fibber McGee and Molly in an episode entitled "Backseat Driver" which originally aired on February 3, 1949.
295. Saturday with Dennis Day Podcast! 1948-12-04-Mr Andersons Love Letters - A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.14Mb) Description: Another great show from 60 years ago this week!
296. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1958-11-30 Burning Wagon http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.85Mb) Description: 50 years ago out west!
297. Hump day with Bob Hope Podcast! 1948-11-30 - Guest - Doris Day - USC http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.33Mb) Description: 60 years ago with Bob Hope and Doris Day!
298. Monday with My Favorite Husband ( I love Lucy) Podcast! 1948 11 27 0020 Is There A Baby In The House http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.54Mb) Description: Lucy and her baby entanglements start here, but they don't end until she has a baby on television, in one of the most watched television episodes of all time!
299. Monday with Mel Blanc Podcast! 1946-11-26 The Thanksgiving Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.24Mb) Description: Last Thanksgiving show, I think.
300. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1948-11-28 - How Jack and the Gang Spent Thanksgiving http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.38Mb) Description: Hope you had a good thanksgiving like Jack did 60 years ago!
301. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1936-12-13 - First show with Andy Devine! Buck Benny Rides Again http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.09Mb) Description: Andy Devine appeared in more than 400 films and shared with Walter Brennan, another character actor, the rare ability to move with ease from "B" Westerns to "A" pictures. His notable roles included ten films as sidekick "Cookie" to Roy Rogers, a role in Romeo and Juliet (1937), and "Danny" in A Star Is Born (1937). He made several appearances in films with John Wayne, including Stagecoach (1939), Island in the Sky (1953), and as the frightened marshal in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also played "The Cheerful Soldier" in The Red Badge of Courage and the First Mate of the S.S. Henrietta in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). While most of his characters were reluctant to get involved in the action, he played the hero in Island in the Sky, as an expert pilot who leads his fellow aviators through the arduous search for a missing airplane. His film appearances in his later years included movies such as The Over-the-Hill Gang, and "Coyote Bill" in Myra Breckinridge. Devine also worked in radio. He is well-remembered for his role as "Jingles", Guy Madison's sidekick in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, which Devine and Madison reprised on television. He appeared over 75 times on Jack Benny's radio show between 1936 and 1942, often appearing in Benny's semi-regular western series of sketches "Buck Benny Rides Again". And Devine worked in television. He played "Hap" on the TV series Flipper and hosted a children's TV show, Andy's Gang. He starred in a Twilight Zone episode as "Frisby", a talkative fibster faced with an alien invasion called "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby". He was also a frequent guest star in many television shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, Devine performed voice parts in animated films, including "Friar Tuck" in Disney's Robin Hood. He provided the voice of Cornelius the Rooster in several Kellogg's Corn Flakes TV commercials. In 1973, Devine came to Monroe, Louisiana at the request of George C. Brian, an actor and filmmaker who headed the theater department at a Louisiana university, to perform in Edna Ferber's Show Boat. Devine died of leukemia on February 18, 1977, at the age of 71, in Orange, California. The main street of his home town of Kingman was renamed "Andy Devine Avenue" in his honor. His career is also highlighted in the Mohave Museum of History and Arts in Kingman, and there is a star in his honor in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
302. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) Podcast! 1948-11-20 George Attends A Teen Age Dance 0019 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.54Mb) Description: 60 Years ago this week! Teen age dance, 'nuff said!
303. Monday with McCarthy Podcast! 1955-11-27 Jack Benny - Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 14.56Mb) Description: Edgar Bergen was born Edgar John Bergren in Chicago, Illinois, to a Swedish family and grew up in Decatur, Michigan. He taught himself ventriloquism from a pamphlet when he was eleven. A few years later he commissioned Chicago woodcarver Theodore Mack to sculpt a likeness of a rascally Irish newspaperboy he knew. The head went on a puppet named Charlie McCarthy, who became Bergen's lifelong sidekick. At age sixteen, he came to Chicago, where he attended Lake View High School and worked at a silent movie house. His first performances were in vaudeville, at which point he legally changed his last name to the easier-to-pronounce "Bergen". He also worked in one-reel movie shorts, but his real success was on the radio. He and Charlie were seen at a New York party by Elsa Maxwell for Noël Coward, who recommended them for an engagement at the famous Rainbow Room. It was there that two producers saw Bergen and Charlie perform. They then recommended them for a guest appearance on Rudy Vallée's program. The appearance was so successful that the next year they were given their own show. Under various sponsors, they were on the air from December 17, 1937 to July 1, 1956. The popularity of a ventriloquist on radio, when one could see neither the dummies nor his skill, surprised and puzzled many critics, then and now. Even knowing that Bergen provided the voice, listeners perceived Charlie as a genuine person. It was Bergen's skill as an entertainer and vocal performer, and especially his characterization of Charlie, that carried the show. Luckily, many of the shows have survived and are available for audiences today to experience the phenomenon firsthand.
304. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1948-11-21 - Jack Tries to Reach His Advertising Agency http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.98Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week!This week I focus on Mary Livingstone. Never all that comfortable as a performer despite her success, Livingstone's stage fright became so acute by the time the Benny show was moving toward television that she rarely appeared on the radio show in its final season, 1955. When she did appear, the Bennys' adopted daughter, Joan, acted as a stand-in for her mother while Livingstone's pre-recorded lines were played during live broadcasts. Livingstone made few appearances on the television version and finally retired from show business in 1958. Personal Life Many fans would be surprised when George Burns revealed in his memoir Gracie: A Love Story (1988) that George and his wife/comic partner Gracie Allen loved Jack Benny but merely tolerated Mary, whom they found vain, envious, and not very talented. Indeed, Mary in real life seemed quite different from the friendly, spunky role she played on the radio, just as her husband truly was about as far removed from the cowardly, self-centered miser he played on the show as humanly possible. According to Burns, she wanted all the things her friends had, but more and bigger, and had a tendency to demand immediate service when going into a busy salon or department store. At times, wrote Burns, when she acted too entitled, her friends would humble her by pretending she was selling them panty hose — reminding her that for all her airs, she had been a lowly lingerie salesgirl before she met Jack Benny. Jack and Mary adored each other, but their relationship was sometimes troubled by her vanity and his philandering. (Mary would later claim that Jack's famous gesture of putting his hand to his cheek began when she answered a phone call from one of his girlfriends and scratched his face shortly before a photo shoot.
305. Dennis Day Podcast! 1947-01-01 Dennis Is Guest Speaker At the Ladies Aid Meeting http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.66Mb) Description: Episode from 60 years ago is lost, so here is the 14th episode in the series!
306. Phil Harris and Alice Faye Podcast! 1948-11-21 HEALTH FOOD DIET http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.75Mb) Description: 60 years ago, Phil Harris predicts the health food craze!
307. Fred Allen, Kenny Baker, and Portland Hoffa Podcast! 1941-04-23 The Great American Pastime http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.07Mb) Description: Let's talk Baseball!
308. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-11-20 - Too Hot to Handle http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.51Mb) Description: 70 years ago folks heard this great episode for the very first time! Great banter with Jack and Phil in this one. This is when Phil as the ladies man was in it's prime, and Jack trying to hilariously keep up.
309. Hump day with Bob Hope Podcast! 1948-11-09 - Guest - Jack Benny http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.42Mb) Description: Welcome to our first "hump day" with Hope! Every Wednesday we will spend with Bob Hope, to get us over the hump in the middle of the week! When two legends get together, like Bob Hope and Jack Benny...well...It just doesn't get much better than that, brother!
310. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1936-11-15 - Buck Benny Rides Again http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.68Mb) Description: Tuesday time for classic Benny Spotlight, this week the spotlight shines on Buck Benny! First Buck Benny episode!
311. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) Podcast! 1948-11-13_0018_Learning To Drive http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.10Mb) Description: My Favorite Husband began on CBS Radio with Lucille Ball and Richard Denning as Liz and George Cugat. After a few early episodes, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Liz and George Cooper. The cheerful couple lived at 321 Bundy Drive in the fictitious city of Sheridan Falls and were billed as "two people who live together and like it." The main sponsor was Jell-O, and an average of three "plugs" for Jell-O were made in each episode, including Lucille Ball's usual sign-on, "Jell-O, everybody!" The 1948 radio version opened with: Announcer: It's time for My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball! Lucille Ball: Jell-O, everybody! Theme music Announcer: Yes, it's the gay family comedy series starring Lucille Ball with Richard Denning and is brought to you by the Jell-O family of Red-Letter Desserts: Singers: Oh! The big red letters stand for the Jell-O family, Oh, the big red letters stand for the Jell-O family, That's Jell-O! Yum, yum, yum! Jell-O pudding! Yum, yum, yum! Jell-O that's the awesome pudding, yes sir-ee!
312. Monday with Mel Blanc Podcast! 1946-11-12 Mel Imitates Actors http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.05Mb) Description: More great Mel Blanc on Monday!
313. The Jack Benny Podcast! 1948-11-14 - Jack Is Worried Because Mary Is Late http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.71Mb) Description: Here we go! Reaction to the election of Barack Obama for President tied to our very own Rochester, with just a dash of Desi Arnaz thrown in for good measure!
314. Saturday with Dennis Day Podcast! 48-11-13-Advice Column http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.31Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week! Happy Saturday everyone!
315. Friday with Fred Allen, Kenny Baker, and Portland Hoffa Podcast! 1941-04-02 - One Long Pan Solves Charlie Chan's Murder http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.32Mb) Description: We turn to the continuing story of Kenny Baker. Exiled from his home with Jack Benny, and set adrift, only to find a friendly port at the Fred Allen Show. We are about half way through the surviving Fred Allen shows that feature Kenny. Enjoy!
316. FRIDAY WITH PHIL HARRIS & ALICE FAYE PODCAST! 1948-11-14 - New Drug http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.06Mb) Description: Today's episode is from 60 years ago today!Rexall gained national exposure through its sponsorship of two famous classic American radio programs of the 1940s and 1950's: Amos and Andy and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. Both shows were often opened by an advertisement from an announcer portraying "your Rexall family druggist," and included the catch phrase "Good health to all from Rexall." They also sponsored the Jimmy Durante Show and there are references by character Mr. Peavey in some of the Great Gildersleeve radio shows.
317. BOB HOPE PODCAST - 1938-11-01 - Guest - Martha Raye http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.61Mb) Description: Martha Raye Born: August 27, 1916 \| Died: October 19, 1994 Born Margaret Teresa Yvonne Reed in Butte, Montana, in 1916, Martha began as a singer and comedy performer early in her life. She was born backstage at a local vaudeville theatre in Butte, Montana where her Irish immigrant parents, Peter Reed and Maybelle Hooper, were performing as “Reed and Hooper”. Two days after Martha was born, her mother was back doing the act, and Martha began performing in the act when she was three years old. She performed with her brother, Bud, and soon the two children became such a highlight that the act was renamed “Margie and Bud”. She continued performing from that point on and once attended the Professional Children's School in New York City. Her formal schooling, however, was so minimal and only got as far as the fifth grade. Often she had to have scripts and other written documents read to her by others. Martha Raye was best known for the size of her mouth, which appeared enormous in proportion to the rest of her face. It relegated her motion picture work to largely supporting comic parts. She became known as “The Big Mouth” and apparently she was often made up in a way which tended to cause it to appear as even larger than it actually already was. For example, she appears in the picture “The Big Broadcast” of 1938 where Bob Hope first sings what became his theme song, “Thanks for the Memories;” however, it is not sung to Ms. Raye, but rather to the female leading actress that she supports. Her title as “The Big Mouth” made her a natural to be the spokesperson for Polident denture cleanser in the 1970s and 1980s. Martha Raye was an early television star and briefly had her own program, “The Martha Raye Show.” The show lasted only two seasons from 1954-1956. In the 1960's and 70's, she did a series of guest appearances on television shows, and it was during this time she landed the part of Mel's mother, Carrie, on “Alice.” Raye's personal life was unsteady as she married seven times throughout her life, with most of her marriages lasting less than two years and her first marriage lasting only three months. Her fourth marriage produced her only child, a daughter Melodye. Overcome with depression and health problems, she attempted suicide in 1956 but was unsuccessful and gradually made a full recovery. She died at age 78 in Los Angeles, California, of pneumonia after a long history of cardiovascular disease. She also suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had lost both legs the year before her death due to circulatory problems. Due to her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, Martha was given a burial with full military honors at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
318. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-23 - Algiers http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.40Mb) Description: The 1938 movie Algiers was most Americans' introduction to the picturesque alleys and souks of the Casbah. It was also the inspiration for the 1942 Warner Brothers movie Casablanca which was written specifically for Hedy Lamarr in the female lead role. However, MGM refused to release Hedy Lamarr despite all efforts by Warner Brothers. The invitation "Come with me to the Casbah," which was heard in trailers for Algiers but not in the film itself, became an exaggerated romantic overture promising exoticism and mystery, largely owing to its use by Looney Tunes cartoon character Pepé Le Pew, himself a spoof of Pépé le Moko. The amorous skunk used "Come with me to ze Casbah" as a pickup line. In 1954, the Looney Tunes cartoon "The Cat's Bah" specifically spoofed Algiers, with the skunk enthusiastically declaring, "You do not have to come with me to ze Casbah.... We are already 'ere!"
319. The Jack Benny Podcast! 1948-10-10 - Jack and the Gang Listen to the World Series http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.64Mb) Description: Still going...
320. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-16 - Farewell to the Old Studio. http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.67Mb) Description: 70 Years ago this week! Radio was at it's peak and Jack and the gang do one last show at their old studio before relocting to NBC's brand new studio! The West Coast Radio City opened in 1938 and served as headquarters to the NBC Radio Networks' (Red and Blue) West Coast operations. It served as a replacement for NBC's radio broadcast center in San Francisco, which had been around since the network's formation in 1927. Since NBC never owned a radio station in Los Angeles, the network's West Coast programming originated from its San Francisco station (KPO-AM, which later became KNBC-AM, and is now KNBR).
321. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-09 - Yellow Jack http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.08Mb) Description: Jack and the gang from exactly 70 years ago today! Jack Benny Back On Radio With New Dramatic Plays [from a newspaper of Oct. 9, 1938] Jack Benny, a fugitive from a Summer resort mosquito, will present his own version of the film success, "Yellow Jack," during the broadcast with Mary Livingstone, Kenny Baker, Don Wilson, and Phil Harris' orchestra over the NBC-Red network on Sunday at 7:00 p.m., EST. With this presentation of this epic of the Cuban swamps, the Benny theatre project will launch another of its seasons of dramtic repertorie to replace the Punch and Judy show. At present Benny is too busy squashing the rumors that he will play the title role in "Yellow Jack" to make comment on his season's plans. Ever since Jack posed as the leader of the drawfs in "Snow White," he has avidly been searching for another vehicle in which he can be called "Doc." Therefore, Jack magnanimously leaves the leading role of sergeant to Phil Harris, to play Doctor Jack, the insect killer. In addition to making his season's bow on the program, Andy Devine, the only member of the Benny gang who appeared in the film version of "Yellow Jack," will tackle the dual duties of playing a soldier and acting as technical advisor for the Benny drama. He will head a squad composed of Kenny, Don and Rochester. Mary Livingston will play the nurse whose fondness for Doc Benny is exceeded only by her affection for the rest of the soldiers in the medical corps. Kenny Baker, who recently had a little trouble in Mayor Andy Devine's Van Nuys traffic court, will sing "I Used to be Color Blind." Phil Harris and the orchestra, with an eye to getting in solid with the boss, will play "What Have You Got That Gets Me?" from Jack's new picture "Artists and Models Abroad."
322. Burns and Allen Podcast! 1948-10-07 Kleptomaniacs http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 16.03Mb) Description: George and Gracie from 60 years ago this week!
323. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1936-11-01 - The Minstrel Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.15Mb) Description: One of Jack's most controversial episodes. This is the first time we really hear Phil Harris jump into the part and begin to point to the true impact he will have in future episodes. It is also Cliff Nazarro's first surviving appearance on Jack's show. He will later become well known to radio audiences for his fast talking double talk gibberish. Although he appeared in scores of films, diminutive comedian Cliff Nazarro was better known as one of the last of the great minstrel performers. Highly politically incorrect by today's standards, Nazarro's blackface act came with such songs as "Is I in Love (I is)," yet despite the ill-repute of blackface performers today, a poster from "Cliff Nazarro's Modern Minstrels" remains a best seller on Internet auctions. Nazarro later developed a famous double-talking act, which he performed both on Fred Allen's radio program and in several films, notably (and quite incongruously), the 1941 Hopalong Cassidy entry In Old Colorado. He died in 1961. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
324. Monday with Mel Blanc Podcast! 46-10-01 Mr Owens Visit http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.49Mb) Description: Here is the episode form 62 years ago this week!
325. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1948-10-03 - Jack Returns to America by Ship and Hears an Echo http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.43Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, The Jack Benny Show season premiere from 1948! Sunday night at seven!
326. Saturday with Dennis Day Podcast! 1948-10-02 The Runaway A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.78Mb) Description: From 60 years ago this week,enjoy another day in the life of Dennis Day!
327. Friday with Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, and Kenny Baker Podcast! 1941-03-26 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.13Mb) Description: Fred, Portland, and Kenny have a great show as usual! The picture I found for this weeks podcast is the best I have ever seen of Fred and Portland. Their love for each other really shows. Come to the website to have a look, if you are reading this on itunes.
328. Friday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye Podcast! 1948-10-03 - First Show for Rexall http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.87Mb) Description: Wow! Phil's premiere for Rexall from exactly 60 years ago today!
329. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-02 - The First Show of the Season & Lux Theater 1938-09-26 Seven Keys to Baldpate http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.75Mb) Description: 30's Thursday! 70 years ago to the day! The Jack Benny Show 1938 season opener and a special Lux Theater bonus, "Seven Keys to Baldpate" starring Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone!
330. Bob Hope Podcast! 1938-09-27 - Guest - Constance Bennett.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.51Mb) Description: 30's Thursday! 70 years ago this week! Thought I might start posting some Bob Hope shows. Here is his season premiere from 1948!
331. Burns and Allen Podcast! 1948-09-30 The New Neighbors http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.82Mb) Description: Wednesday with Geoge and Gracie! From exactly 60 years ago this week! Burns and Allen had several regulars on radio, including Toby Reed, Gale Gordon, Bea Benaderet, Mary "Bubbles" Kelly, Ray Noble, singers Jimmy Cash and Tony Martin and actor/writer/director Elliott Lewis. The Sportsmen Quartet (appearing as "The Swantet" during the years the show was sponsored by Swan Soap) supplied songs and occasionally backed up Cash. Meredith Willson, Artie Shaw and announcers Bill Goodwin and Harry Von Zell, who were usually made a part of the evening's doings, often as additional comic foils for the duo.
332. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1952-12-27 The Cabin http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.56Mb) Description: Gunsmoke was often a somber program, particularly in its early years, and this is one of the very darkest of episodes, not for the young of faint of heart. Dunning writes that Dillon "played his hand and often lost. He arrived too late to prevent a lynching. He amputated a dying man's leg and lost the patient anyway. He saved a girl from brutal rapists then found himself unable to offer her what she needed to stop her from moving into... life as a prostitute." (Dunning, 304) Some listeners, such as vintage radio authority Dunning, have argued that the radio version of Gunsmoke was far more realistic than the TV series. Episodes were aimed at adults and featured some of the most explicit content of their time, including violent crimes, scalpings, massacres, and opium addicts. Many episodes ended on a somber note, and villains often got away with their crimes. Nonetheless, thanks to the subtle scripts and outstanding ensemble cast, over the years the program evolved into a warm, often humorous celebration of human nature.
333. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1936-10-04 - Phil Harris' First Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.63Mb) Description: The very first appearance of Phil Harris on the Jack Benny Show! In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Show Starring Jack Benny (later renamed The Jack Benny Program), singing and leading his band and – when his knack for snappy one-liners became apparent – joining the Benny ensemble playing Phil Harris, scripted as a hipster-talking, hard-drinking, brash Southerner whose good nature overcame his ego. His trademark was his jive-talk nicknaming of the others in the Benny orbit. Benny was "Jackson," for example; Harris's usual entry was a cheerful "Hiya, Jackson!". He usually referred to Mary Livingstone as "Livvy" or "Libby". His signature song, belying his actual Hoosier roots, was "That's What I Like About the South." His comic persona -- that of musical idiot -- masked the fact that the Harris Band evolved into a smooth, up-tempo big band with outstanding arrangements.
334. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-05-15 - Jack Buys a Racehorse/Murder in the Library http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.37Mb) Description: One of my favorite Benny episodes of all time, the first 8 minutes about Jack's horse are amazing!!! Man o' War made an impressive racing debut at Belmont Park on June 6, 1919, winning by six lengths. Three weeks later he won the Keene Memorial Stakes. In the early 1900s, there were no starting gates. Jockeys circled around but then gathered their horses in a line behind a flimsy piece of webbing, known as the barrier and were sent away when it was raised.[4] In Man o' War's only loss, the Sanford Memorial Stakes, he still was circling with his back to the starting line when the barrier was raised (though other accounts give other reasons, such as it was rigged.[5]) After the jockey got Man o' War turned around, he already was far behind the pack. In frustration, Johnny Loftus, the jockey, made three major errors while in the race. Three times he put Man O' War in bad positions, getting boxed in by other horses in the race. Despite this, he still came close to winning, losing by only a half-length, as Man O' War charged across the finish line, going much faster than any other horse on the field, and ultimately finishing second. The horse that won was Upset, whose name is sometimes thought to have popularized a new phrase in sports ("upset" meaning an upstart beating the favorite). Man o' War finished his 2-year-old campaign winning 9 of 10 races. [edit]As a 3-year old In 1920, Johnny Loftus was denied a renewal of his jockey's license by the racing commission and was replaced as Man o' War's rider by Clarence Kummer. Loftus would retire and become a trainer. At 3, he was a strapping 16.2 hands (about 5-foot-6) and weighed about 1,125 pounds with a 72-inch girth. That May, 3-year-old Man o' War was not entered in the Kentucky Derby because his owner did not like racing in Kentucky and believed it was too early in the year for a young horse to go a mile and a quarter. The previous year, Sir Barton had won the first-ever U.S. Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, though it was not yet called that at the time.[6] It would gain that prestige and importance 10 years later when Gallant Fox accomplished the feat under a great deal of media attention. Man o' War in the 1920 Stuyvesant Handicap After handily winning the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland, the horse was sent to Elmont, New York for the Belmont Stakes. Man o' War won the then-1 3/8th miles race by 20 lengths, setting another American record with a time of 2:14.20, beating Sir Barton's mark set in the previous year by over 3 full seconds. That year he also won the Dwyer Stakes, the Travers Stakes, the Stuyvesant Handicap, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. As the racing season wound down, no one wanted to race his horse against the seemingly invincible Man o' War, who had easily won every race he entered. At the Lawrence Realization Stakes, no other horse was willing to go up against him until finally a good racehorse named Hoodwink was good-heartedly entered by Mrs. Riddle's niece, Sarah Jeffords. Man o' War won by an astonishing margin in excess of 100 lengths (some say more) while setting a new world record of 2:40 4/5 for a mile and five-eighths, besting the previous record by a full 6 seconds. His record still officially stands at the track. The final start of Man o' War's illustrious career came in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in the Kenilworth Park Gold Cup, a race that for the first time was filmed in its entirety. For this 1¼ mile match race, Man o' War was up against the great Sir Barton but easily drew away in the first furlong, showing a decided superiority to the first Triple Crown winner, and was slowed to win by 7 lengths. Following his undefeated season of 11 straight wins, the superstar horse was shipped to Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, to stand at stud. Over his two-year career, Man o' War won 20 of 21 races, setting three world records, two American records and three track records. (*The Kenilworth Park Gold Cup was in actuality a "match race" between Sir Barton and Man o' War. Another champion horse, Exterminator, was invited to compete in the race, since Canada did not allow match races. Due to the owners of the three not coming to a compromise on the conditions of the race, Exterminator was scratched, and in fact raced that same day on a different track.)
335. Saturday with Dennis Day Podcast! 1948-09-25-The New Boarder - A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.61Mb) Description: Exactly 60 years ago this week! Sorry didn't have time for intro to this one.
336. Burns and Allen Podcast! 1943-11-02 Gracie Blackmails Jack Benny http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.63Mb) Description: In 1929 they made their first radio appearance in London on the BBC. Back in America, they failed at a 1930 NBC audition. After a solo appearance by Gracie on Eddie Cantor's radio show, they were heard together on Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour and in February 15, 1932 they became regulars on The Guy Lombardo Show on CBS. When Lombardo switched to NBC, Burns and Allen took over his CBS spot with The Adventures of Gracie beginning September 19, 1934. The title of their top-rated show changed to The Burns and Allen Show on September 26, 1936. When ratings began to slip in 1940-41, they moved from comedy patter into a successful sitcom format, continuing with shows on NBC and CBS until May 17, 1950. As in the early days of radio, the sponsor's name became the show title, such as Maxwell House Coffee Time (1945-49).
337. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1935-11-03 - Kenny Baker's First Show! http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.43Mb) Description: Kenny Baker (entertainer) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kenny Baker from the film Stage Door Canteen (1943) Born Kenneth Laurence Baker September 30, 1912 Monrovia, California Died August 10, 1985 (aged 72) Solvang, California Occupation Film actor, singer This article is about the American singer and actor. For other persons with this name, see Kenny Baker (disambiguation). Kenneth Laurence "Kenny" Baker (September 30, 1912 – August 10, 1985) was an American singer/actor who first gained notice as the featured singer on Jack Benny's radio shows during the 1930s. At the height of his radio fame, and after leaving the Benny show in 1939 (succeeded by Dennis Day, whose lilting tenor was similar to Baker's), he appeared in seventeen film musicals (At the Circus, The Harvey Girls) and later co-starred with Mary Martin in the original Broadway production of Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's One Touch of Venus. He returned to radio as a regular performer on Fred Allen's Texaco Star Theater program of 1940-1942. Baker also recorded a number of hymn albums for his church. After retiring from performing in the early 1950s, he became a Christian Science practitioner and motivational speaker.
338. Monday with the Mel_Blanc Show! Podcast 3 - 46-09-17_Mel Bakes A Prizewinning Putty Cake http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.58Mb) Description: Mel Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989), was born in San Francisco, California. His ability to create voices for multiple characters first attracted attention when he worked as a voice actor in radio. He was a regular on the Jack Benny Program in various roles, including Benny's automobile (a Maxwell in desperate need of a tune up), violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, and Benny's pet polar bear Carmichael. Blanc's success on the Jack Benny Program led to his own radio show on the CBS radio network, The Mel Blanc Show, which ran from September 3, 1946 to June 24, 1947. Blanc played himself as the hapless owner a fix-it shop, in addition to a wide range of comical support characters. Other regular characters were played by Mary Jane Croft, Joe Kearns, Hans Conried, Alan Reed, Earle Ross, Jim Backus and Bea Benaderet. Blanc also appeared on other national radio programs such as Burns and Allen as the Happy Postman, August Moon on Point Sublime, Sad Sack on G.I. Journal, Floyd the Barber on The Great Gildersleeve, and later played various small parts on Benny's television show. Blanc's most famous role on Benny's TV show was as "Si, the Mexican" in which he spoke one word at a time. The famous 'si-sy-sue' routine was so hilarious that no matter how many times it was performed, the laughter was always there. Another famous Blanc role on Jack's show was the Train Depot announcer who always said the phrase: "Train leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga". What made that phrase so funny was the spacing between "Cu.." and "...camonga" -- sometimes minutes would pass while the skit went on, the audience awaiting the inevitable conclusion of the word. For his contribution to radio, Mel Blanc has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Blvd.
339. The Jack Benny Show: Podcast 7! 1938-05-01 - House Construction http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.91Mb) Description: Another fantastic episode. Jack Benny was really having a house built. This was the famous home that he lived in for years. He had talked about it all season on the show, now was the audience chance to join him, Mary and Dennis on a tour of the house. Frank Nelson is our tour guide. One of my favorite episodes!
340. Saturday with Dennis Day! Podcast 1 - A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day! 48-09-18 Out On The Town http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.45Mb) Description: Cool! The first episode from the 1948-1949 Season! Exactly sixty years ago this week! It was even broadcast on a Saturday night! My father was 20 years old and TV's dominance was still a couple of years away.
341. Friday with Phil Harris, Jack Benny, and Alice Faye! Podcast 3 - 1947-12-21 - Annual Christmas Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.77Mb) Description: PHIL HARRIS & ALICE FAYE Phil's band was formed in the 1920's and was very popular, mainly due to his strong personality as a band leader. Phil became the band leader for the Jack Benny show, which was Phil's springboard to his own show. During this time Phil also continued to appear on the Jack Benny Program. In 1949 when Benny moved to CBS the distance between the studios (Phil was at NBC), created a problem. So, Phil was scripted in the first half of each Benny show so he could make it on time for his own show which aired back-to-back. Alice Faye first met Phil when she was singing with Rudy Vallee. And it couldn't have been love at first sight because her face was wrapped in bandages, the result of an accident. Phil and Alice were married in 1941. Phil and Alice played themselves on the show (Phil was indeed a leading bandleader, and Alice Faye was a film star). There really was a Frank Remley and he auditioned but it was decided he wasn't a good enough actor so Elliott Lewis got the part, playing the character of a hard-drinking guitar player in the band. Walter Tetley (formerly LeRoy on "The Great Gildersleeve") played Julius Abbruzio, the local grocery store delivery boy. Gale Gordon, who at one time played the various serious role as The Whistler, turned to his better-known comedic side and starred as Mr. Scott of the Rexall Drug Company. Rexall Drugs was an actual sponsor on the show and Gale Gordon's references to the company on the series eliminated the need for one of the commercial breaks. The series ran from 1946 to 1953 on NBC.
342. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1934-08-03 - Schlepperman's first show! The Stooge Murder Case http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.45Mb) Description: This is the first time Sam Hearn plays the Schleppermam character that will be used for many years on the Benny show. Sam entertained the troops as Schlepperman during WWII, and that is where the picture above comes from, and the following caption. Boy, Did That Schlepperman "WOW" Them !! Applause and smiles were plentiful when patients of the Post Hospital watched the USO-Camp Show "Bandwagon" Friday on the stage of the Hospital auditorium. Headliner was the radio comedian Sam "Schlepperman" Hearn.
343. The Jack Benny Show: Podcast 6! 1938-04-24 - Snow White and the Seven Gangsters http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.31Mb) Description: Disney's wife, Lillian, told him: "No one's ever gonna pay a dime to see a dwarf picture."[5] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937 to a wildly receptive audience, many of whom were the same naysayers who dubbed the film "Disney's Folly." The film received a standing ovation at its completion from a star-studded audience that included such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Jack Benny, Fred MacMurray, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Burns and Allen, Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, John Barrymore, and Marlene Dietrich. Six days later, Walt Disney and his magical seven dwarfs appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The New York Times said "Thank you very much, Mr. Disney." RKO Radio Pictures put the film into general release on February 4, 1938, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making more money than any other motion picture in 1938. In fact, for a short time, Snow White was the highest-grossing film in American cinema history; it was ousted from that spot by Gone with the Wind in 1939. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film still registers one of the top ten American film moneymakers of all time. [6] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature film to be made (not counting the Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons), and won an honorary Academy Award for Walt Disney "as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field." Disney received a full-size Oscar statuette and seven miniature ones, presented to him by 10-year-old child actress Shirley Temple. The film was also nominated for Best Musical Score. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" has become a jazz standard that has been performed by numerous artists, including Buddy Rich, Lee Wiley, Oscar Peterson, and Miles Davis. Noted filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Charlie Chaplin praised Snow White as a notable achievement in cinema.[7] The film inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce its own fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz in 1939. The 1943 Merrie Melodies short Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, directed by Bob Clampett, parodies Snow White by presenting the story with an all-black cast singing a jazz score. Snow White was such a success that Disney went on to produce 18 more full-length animated feature films during his lifetime.[8] It has been well documented[citation needed] that Adolf Hitler watched this film with a roomful of children, and was delighted by Disney's adaptation of the German fairy tale. Hitler supposedly offered Disney anything he wanted in exchange for Disney's creation of feature-length animated features in Germany. Though this is the basis for the Walt Disney as a Nazi rumors, Disney's biographer Bob Thomas proves that Disney declined Hitler's invitation, and in fact soon entered production on such anti-German projects as Der Fuehrer's Face and Victory Through Air Power. On February 22, 2008, William Hakvaag, owner of Lofoten War Museum, said he found four watercolor paintings with Disney motifs hidden inside a painting signed "A. Hitler" that he purchased at auction.[9] Three of them featured dwarfs and Hakvaag claims these have been signed by Hitler himself,[9] while the last one was an unsigned painting of Pinocchio.[10]
344. Saturday with Dennis Day! Podcast 0 1946-10-03 - 0001 The Masquerade Ball http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.20Mb) Description: Dennis Day appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another famed tenor, Kenny Baker. He remained associated with Benny's radio and television programs until Benny's death in 1974. He was introduced (with actress Verna Felton playing his mother) as a young (nineteen year old), naive boy singer — a character he kept through his whole career. His first song was "Goodnight My Beautiful". Besides singing, Dennis Day was an excellent mimic. He did many imitations on the Benny program of various noted celebrities of the era, such as Ronald Colman, Jimmy Durante, and Jimmy Stewart. Sam Berman's caricature of Dennis Day for 1947 NBC promotional book From 1944 through 1946, he served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant. On his return to civilian life, he continued to work with Benny while also starring his own show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (1946-1952). Day's having two programs in comparison to Benny's one was the subject of numerous jokes and gags on Benny's show, usually revolving around Day rubbing Benny's, and sometimes other cast members and guest stars' noses in that fact.
345. Friday with Phil Harris, Alice Faye, and Jack Benny! Podcast 2- 1947-03-09 - Will Jack Benny Renew Phil's Contract http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.15Mb) Description: The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Part 2) Co-writer Ray Singer told historian Gerald Nachman, for Raised on Radio, that he and his partner Dick Chevillat thought they had a "writer's paradise" working for Harris and Faye. "Phil was the kind of guy who loved living, and didn't want to be bothered with work or anything else. He left us alone. We never had to report to him. He never knew what was gonna happen. And it was left in our hands. It spoiled us for everybody else." Harris and Faye stayed with NBC rather than succumb to the CBS talent raids of the late 1940s that began when Harris' former boss, Jack Benny, was lured to CBS and took a few NBC stars (including George Burns and Gracie Allen) with him. NBC offered the couple (as well as Fred Allen) a lucrative new deal to stay, though occasionally Harris would allude to Benny's network switch on the Harris-Faye show. (Typically, Harris would crack an odd joke and then say, "I gotta give this one to Jackson! It might bring him back to NBC.") Despite the network conflict and a grueling schedule, Harris continued to appear on Benny's show through 1952. While several radio programs were being transferred to television during the show's lifetime, one episode ("The Television Test") comically exaggerated how terribly the audience would receive Phil on the small screen: Producer 1-"Do you think it's wise to let the public see what Harris looks like?" Producer 2-"Oh, he doesn't look that bad." Harris and Faye were not averse to appearing on radio outside their comic personae. At the height of their radio show's popularity, the couple made a memorable appearance on the CBS mystery hit, Suspense, in a 1951 episode called "Death on My Hands." This performance was something of a family affair: Elliott Lewis was also the main director of Suspense during this period. The title alluded to an accidental shooting local people assumed to be murder. Harris played an outback-touring bandleader playing a high school dance and accosted back at his hotel by an autograph-seeking girl. As she reached for a photo in an open suitcase, the suitcase fell to the floor, and a pistol inside discharged, shooting her to death and provoking a local lynch mob. Before the dance, he'd bumped into Faye as his former band singer, who wandered the country for six years; after the dance, she sought to help him convince the town of the truth. Harris and Faye also did the occasional stage tour during their radio years, including a tour with Jack Benny in the early 1950s. Nachman and other old-time radio chroniclers have noted the couple shied from television mostly because the pace and complexities of working the new medium would have been too time consuming; radio allowed them, in effect, to work part-time while raising their children full-time. Just wild about Harry When Harris and his band were invited to perform at President Harry S. Truman's inaugural in 1949, the Harris-Faye writers scripted a playful show in which Harris the character steamed over a lack of invitation to the Inaugural Ball. He wasn't exactly thrilled to hear his wife warbling a Truman-friendly version of "I'm Just Wild About Harry," either. But at the show's end, Harris--who often shed his radio character to speak soberly promoting worthy causes once in a while (such as Big Brothers of America, which he saluted at the end of a 1950 show)--spoke humbly about how honored he was to have received the actual invitation, inviting the show's full cast and crew to join him for the festivities. The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show remains a popular find for old-time radio lovers; many if not most of its episodes stand the test of time admirably. Well-written, cleverly delivered, it may have been somewhat ahead of its time for the sardonic side of family life on the air.
346. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1934-04-06 - Don Wilson's First Show! Frank Parker's Music Store http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/x-wav, 20.13Mb) Description: Don Wilson's first ever episode! First appearance of Don Bestor, and the first episode sponsored by General Tire! Don Wilson (September 1, 1900 – April 25, 1982) was an American announcer and occasional actor in radio and television, with a Falstaffian vocal presence, remembered best as the rotund announcer and comic foil to the star of The Jack Benny Program. Though best known for his comedy work with Benny, Wilson had a background as a sportscaster, covering the opening of the 1932 Summer Olympics. Wilson first worked with Benny on the broadcast of April 6, 1934, concurrent with a short stint as announcer on George Gershwin's series, Music By Gershwin. At 6 feet (1.83 m) and over 200 pounds (91 kg), Wilson possessed a resonant voice, a deep belly laugh, and a plump figure, all of which would become important parts of his character with Benny. Though Wilson's primary function as announcer was to read the opening and the commercial pitches (notably for Jell-O, Grape-Nuts and Lucky Strikes), his importance to the program was as both feed and foil to Jack and other cast members. A recurring goal was his effort to get the Sportsman's Quartet singing commercial approved by Benny. On radio in particular, Wilson's girth could be exploited, both in jokes by Benny and in audio gags, such as the amount of time it took an attendant to brush Don, or masseurs charging him by the pound. Wilson rarely flubbed his lines. His most famous incident occurred in the Jan. 8, 1950 broadcast. The script called for him to refer to columnist Drew Pearson, but Wilson read the name as "Dreer Pooson." Later on in the broadcast, during a murder-mystery skit, Frank Nelson took advantage of the situation. Benny asked Nelson, "Pardon me, are you the doorman?" and Nelson, in his customary sarcastic manner, came back with: "Well who do you think I am, Dreer Pooson?," to sustained laughter and applause. Wilson also served stints as announcer for radio comedy or variety shows starring Alan Young, Bing Crosby, Ginny Simms, and Fanny Brice's comedy hit Baby Snooks. In 1946, Don Wilson was a regular on the daytime comedy Glamour Manor, opposite former Jack Benny Program regular Kenny Baker. Wilson accompanied Benny into television in 1950, remaining with him through the series' end in 1965. On television, the fat jokes were toned down only slightly, mostly because the real Wilson was not as impossibly large as the radio Wilson was described. These appearances also often involved the fictional character of Don's equally hefty, aspiring announcer son, Harlow (played by Dale White). Wilson also co-starred with Benny in Buck Benny Rides Again (1940) and voicing a caricature of himself in The Mouse That Jack Built, a 1959 Warner Brothers spoof of The Jack Benny Program directed by Robert McKimson. Other film roles included small appearances as announcers or commentators in several films, providing narration for Walt Disney's Academy Award nominated short Ferdinand the Bull, and a credited appearance as Mr. Kettering opposite Marilyn Monroe in Niagara. Wilson did frequent commercials and appeared on the Western Union Candygram commercial. His final on-camera appearance was in two episodes of the 1960s Batman as newscaster Walter Klondike (spoofing Walter Cronkite). Wilson played football for the University of Colorado in the 20's. For his size he was an excellent sportsman, and was an excellent amateur golfer teaming up with fellow NBC announcer Bud Stevens to win many matches in Southern California. Wilson was married four times. His second wife was Peggy Ann Kent, daughter of 20th Century Fox President Sidney R. Kent. They were divorced in December, 1942. The same month the divorce was final, Wilson married Polish countess Marusia Radunska. This marriage ended in divorce 7 years later. Wilson finally found a lasting partnership with fourth wife, radio actress Lois Corbet.
347. Sunday Nights at Seven! Podcast 5 JACK BENNY - 1938-04-17 - Easter Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.35Mb) Description: Jack and the gang go to the circus in this great episode. With this episode and those that follow in the next few weeks, Jack and his gang really start to catch fire.
348. Friday with Phil Harris! Podcast 1 46-07-10 Audition Show_64kb http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 24.39Mb) Description: First episode of the Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show! The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Part 1) The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show Background information The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, an old-time radio situation comedy which ran from 1948 to 1954 on the NBC radio network, evolved from an earlier music and comedy variety program, The Fitch Bandwagon. Singer-bandleader Phil Harris and his wife, actress-singer Alice Faye became the earlier show's breakout stars and the show was retooled into a full sitcom, with Harris and Faye playing slightly fictionalized versions of themselves as a working radio and musical couple raising two young daughters in a slightly madcap home. Sunday stars * Alice Faye: "Oh, Phil, are you ready?" * Phil Harris: "Darn, you made me swallow a bobby pin!" Harris had been a mainstay and musical director for The Jack Benny Program; Faye had been a frequent guest on programs such as Rudy Vallée's, where she may have met her second husband Harris for the first time. (Their marriage provoked a 1941 episode of the Benny show.) They were invited in 1946 to join and co-host The Fitch Bandwagon, a musical variety and comedy show that had been a Sunday night fixture on NBC since 1933, and usually featured popular bands of the time---including Harris's own. Even though many people thought that The Fitch Bandwagon was lucky to be sandwiched in between Jack Benny at 7:00 p.m. and Edgar Bergen at 8:00 on NBC, the [show]... in fact pioneered Sunday evening entertainment programming because prior to its appearance most broadcasters felt that Sunday programming should be of a more religious or serious nature.---Frank Buxton and Bill Owen, in The Big Broadcast 1920-1950. But the growing popularity of the Harris-Faye family sketches in the show turned it into their own comic vehicle by 1947. And when announcer Bill Foreman hailed, "Good health to all... from Rexall!" on October 3, 1948, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show launched its independent life under Rexall's sponsorship, with a debut plot that recalled the fictitious day the couple signed their sponsorship deal. The show was a quick success in its own right, and staying in that powerhouse NBC Sunday lineup didn't hurt. Playing themselves as radio and music star parents of two precocious young daughters (played by actresses Jeanine Roos and Ann Whitfield, instead of the Harris's own young daughters), Harris refined his character from the booze-and-broads, hipster jive talker he'd been on the Benny show ("Hiya, Jackson!" was his usual hail to Benny) into a slightly vain (particularly about his wavy hair and the dimpled smile that always hinted mischief) and dunderheaded husband who usually needed rescuing by Faye as his occasionally tart but always loving wife. References to his wavy hair and vanity became a running gag. Harris often passed wisecracks about buddy Frank Remley's taste for the spirits, a contrast to Harris's former Benny character. The show's writers, Ray Singer and Dick Chevillat, also used Faye's experience making the ill-fated film Fallen Angel as a source of gags, to say nothing of setting up situations in which Harris was recognized (if at all) as her husband or "Mr. Alice Faye." (The show's closing credits included this from announcer Bill Forman: "Alice Faye appears through the courtesy of 20th Century Fox," which some radio historians---such as Gerald S. Nachman in Raised on Radio---believed a conscious jibe at the studio, since Faye's contract had been torn up when she walked out rather than abide Darryl Zanuck cutting her scenes in favor of Linda Darnell against his earlier promises.) Harris's radio character was also scripted as an occasional language and context mangler, six parts Gracie Allen and half a dozen parts Yogi Berra. ("Why, The Mikado never would have been written if Gilbert didn't have faith in Ed Sullivan!") The sardonic humor that laced the show was far beyond the gentility of that other show which featured a bandleader and his singing wife, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. "Good mirth to all from Rexall" Legendary character actor Gale Gordon appeared frequently as Mr. Scott, the slightly pompous and withering fictitious representative of actual sponsor Rexall (each show was bookended by a serious Rexall commercial, narrated by a sonorous, sober-sounding "Rexall Family Druggist," played by veteran film supporting actor Griff Barnett), making a distinctive relationship between the sponsor and the show. One of the show's running gags involved Scott's affected disdain for Harris, wondering just how on earth he and Rexall had consented to sponsor this philistine who should have been paying Rexall to appear on the show and not the other way around. Another involved Harris's continuous misidentifications of the Rexall brand (naming the company's trademark colors as pink and purple, rather than their familiar blue and orange, for example)---when he remembered them at all. Rexall not only didn't mind the scripts' jokes that referred to the company (mostly, without quite integrating the company more fully into a plot) or brought the company briefly into a full scene's worth of a joke, it didn't even mind that the Scott character himself could be seen as satirizing the company more than promoting it. This was rare in an era where sponsors didn't always enjoy being zapped on the programs they were paying to produce and sometimes were accused of influencing the content of the shows they sponsored heavy-handedly. Rexall sponsored The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show through 1950; after a period of self-sustaining airing, RCA Victor picked up the show through the end of its original run in 1954. That didn't stop Gordon (who was also a regular as the vain, blowhard high school principal who bedeviled Our Miss Brooks) from continuing his recurring role as Mr. Scott---this time, of course, representing RCA Victor and with the same satirical edge. The sponsorship switch to RCA also brought the Harrises a family pet, a dog---named, naturally, Nipper, a la the familiar Jack Russell Terrier (with an ear cocked to a Victrola horn, in the famous painting "His Master's Voice") that served as RCA's logo for many years. Sometimes, Harris would address the dog with a backhanded allusion to the famous painting: "Sit, boy. Listen to your master's voice." Supporting players Harris's character often as not found trouble because of buddy-guitarist Frank Remley, played by Elliot Lewis, as he had done in a lesser take on the role on the Benny show. Remley often behaved as though his sense of proportion, logic and just plain sense was left behind---essentially, the kind of character Harris had been on the Benny program. "What would you do without me, Curly?" Remley might ask Harris, who would shoot right back, "The same thing you're doing with me---be a moron!" In due course, after Harris ceased to be Jack Benny's musical director, the Remley character was changed in name only---to Elliot. Walter Tetley, a child impersonator (who did the same job playing spunky nephew Leroy on another radio hit, The Great Gildersleeve), played obnoxious delivery boy Julius, who had sarcastic one-liners for Harris and Remley and a crush on Faye---at least, until he married sponsor rep Scott's daughter. Rounding out the show's usual cast were Robert North as Faye's fictitious deadbeat, humorless but somewhat down-to-earth brother, Willy. The announcer was Bill Foreman. No episode went without two music interludes, usually an upbeat or novelty number by Harris in his friendly baritone and a ballad or soft swinger by Faye in her affectionate contralto. Occasionally, they switched musical roles, Harris taking a ballad and Faye taking a hard swinger. Though their on-air personae were that of a stumbling husband whose wife sometimes wanted to throw up her hands every time she had to rescue him from himself, Harris and Faye's genuine love for each other was evident on the show. Harris often rewrote song lyrics to work in a reference to Faye. Their marriage, a second for both, lasted 54 years until Harris's 1995 death)
349. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1933-01-01 - First Mary Livingstone - Outstanding Achievements of 1932 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/x-wav, 11.42Mb) Description: Mary Livingstone From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mary Livingstone circa 1940. Birth name Sadye Marks Born June 23, 1906 Seattle, Washington Died June 30, 1983 Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California Show The Jack Benny Program Station(s) NBC, CBS Style Comedian Country United States Mary Livingstone (born Sadye Marks, June 23, 1906, Seattle, Washington - June 30, 1983, Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California), was an American radio comedienne and the wife and radio partner of comedy great Jack Benny (né Benjamin Kubelsky). Enlisted almost entirely by accident to perform on her husband's popular program, she proved a talented comedienne. But she also proved one of the rare performers (Barbra Streisand would prove another) to experience severe stage fright years after her career was established---so much so that she retired from show business completely, after two decades in the public eye, almost three decades before her death, and at the height of her husband and partner's fame. Contents Early Life Seattle-born but Vancouver, British Columbia raised, Sadye Marks herself came from a respected show business family: relatives included her cousins the Marx Brothers and Al Shean of Gallagher and Shean; her family name Marrix was Anglicised to Marks when the family arrived in the United States. She met her future husband at a Passover seder at her family home when she was 14; Benny was invited by his friend and her cousin, Zeppo (b. Herbert) Marx while Benny and the Marx Brothers were in town together to perform. Sadye developed a near-instant crush on the funny, somewhat shy man thirteen years her senior. But when he inadvertently insulted her by excusing himself for the night in the midst of her violin performance, she got her revenge the next night. She took three girlfriends to the theater where Benny performed, sitting in the front row and making sure not to laugh. Benny said later it drove him nuts that he couldn't get the four girls to laugh at anything. Courting Jack Benny Three years later, at age seventeen, Sadye visited California with her family while Benny was in the same town for a show. Still nursing a small crush on the comedian, Sadye went to the theater to re-introduce herself to him. As he approached her in a hallway, she smiled and said, "Hello, Mr. Benny, I'm..." But he curtly cut her off with a "Hello," and continued on his way down the hall without pausing; she learned much later that when Benny was deep in thought about his work, it was nearly impossible to get his attention otherwise. They met again a few years later--while she was said to be working as a lingerie salesgirl at a May Department Stores branch store in downtown Los Angeles--and the couple finally began dating. Invited on a double-date by a friend who had married Sayde's sister, Babe, Benny found Sayde along to keep him company. This time, the couple clicked: Jack was finally smitten with Sayde and asked her on another date. She turned him down at first--she was seeing another young man--but Benny persisted. He visited her at May's almost daily and was reputed to buy so much ladies' hosiery from her he helped her set a sales record; he also called her several times a day when on the road. At the same time, Benny seemed fearful of a committed relationship and Sayde Marks continued dating other men, even becoming engaged--which panicked the comedian enough to beg her to come to Chicago--where he tried to convince her she was too young to marry. When the argument didn't convince her, Benny confessed he was in love with her and wanted to marry her himself. In a scene that could have been a later Jack Benny Program routine, she needled him about her being too young to marry. "You're not too young to marry me!" he retorted--his way of proposing. Sayde Marks broke her existing engagement and married Jack Benny in 1927; the marriage ended only when Benny died in 1974. In her biography of her husband, she revealed she didn't tell him she was the little girl he'd once needled until after they'd dated awhile. Goodbye Sadye, Hello Mary Sadye took part in some of Jack's vaudeville performances but never thought of herself as a full-time performer, seeming glad to be done with it when he moved to radio in 1932. Then came the day he called her at home and asked her to come to the studio quickly--an actress hired to play a part on the evening's show didn't show up and, instead of risking a hunt for a substitute, Benny thought his wife could handle the part . . . a character named Mary Livingstone scripted as Benny's biggest fan. At first, it seemed like a brief role--she played the part on that night's and the following week's show before being written out of the scenario. But NBC received so much fan mail that the character was revived into a regular feature on the Benny show, and the reluctant Sayde Marks became a radio star in her own right. Mary Livingstone underwent a change, too: from fan to tart secretary-foil; the character occasionally went on dates with Benny's character but they were rarely implied to be truly romantically involved otherwise. (The lone known exceptions: a fantasy sequence on both the radio and television versions of the show, as well as when NBC did a musical tribute to Jack, in which Mary admitted to being "Mrs. Benny.") Mrs. Benny soon enough displayed her own sharp wit and pinpoint comic timing, often used to puncture Benny's on-air ego, and she became a major part of the show--enough so that, giving in when she was addressed as "Mary Livingstone" often enough when out in public, she ended up changing her name legally to Mary Livingstone. Years later, her husband admitted how strange it felt to call her Sayde even in private. "Chiss Sweeze" Livingstone's honest, wisecracking style proved a perfect lancing of Benny's on-air persona as a vain skinflint. (By contrast, Portland Hoffa--the real-life wife of Benny's friend, fellow comedian, and longtime "feuding" rival Fred Allen--played a squeaky friend who usually hied Allen off to 'Allen's Alley' after a brief comic exchange.) But she was still prone to occasional flubbed lines on the show, and many became as legendary as the deliberately crafted "illogical logic" of Gracie Allen or the cleverly scripted malapropisms of Jane Ace and (as Molly in The Goldbergs) Gertrude Berg. Perhaps the best-remembered such flub was Livingstone's "chiss sweeze sandwich" order in a lunch counter sketch (the flub was referred to for several years afterwards). But nearly as well-remarked was the show on which she was to ask Jack, "How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grease rack?" Instead, Livingstone asked, "How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grass reek?" The following week, Benny devoted much of the show to poking fun at the tongue twists, chastising her for using the made up phrase "grass reek." But Jack got his comeuppance later in the show, when the show's guest, the real-life Beverly Hills police chief, was talking about the strange call the department got the night before: two skunks fighting on someone's lawn. "And let me tell you," he said, "when they were done, did that grass reek!" Mary then took great satisfaction out of making Jack admit to the millions of listeners that "grass reek" did exist ("...Boy did that grease rack!" "That's "grass wreak!"" "Well make up your mind!"). It was also mentioned in a later show when, while Christmas shopping, Mary notices a toy gas station and says that it "even has a grease rack". This was a typical example of Benny and Livingstone, and the show's writers' ability to mine classic comedy out of, apparently, nothing much. Livingstone's brother, Hilliard Marks, also factored big in the show on radio and, later, television: he produced both. Her trademark bit on the radio show (other than haranguing Benny) was to read letters from her mother, usually beginning with, My darling daughter Mary... and often including comical stories about Mary's (fictional) sister Babe (similar to Sadye's real sister Babe in name only), who was so masculine she played as a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers and worked in steel mills and coal mines; or, their ne'er do well father, who always seemed to be a half-step ahead of the law. Mother Livingstone, naturally enough, detested Jack Benny and was forever advising her daughter to quit his employ. Stage Fright Never all that comfortable as a performer despite her success, Livingstone's stage fright became so acute by the time the Benny show was moving toward television that she rarely appeared on the radio show in its final season, 1955. When she did appear, the Bennys' adopted daughter, Joan, acted as a stand-in for her mother while Livingstone's pre-recorded lines were played during live broadcasts. Livingstone made few appearances on the television version and finally retired from show business in 1958. Personal Life Many fans would be surprised when George Burns revealed in his memoir Gracie: A Love Story (1988) that George and his wife/comic partner Gracie Allen loved Jack Benny but merely tolerated Mary, whom they found vain, envious, and not very talented. Indeed, Mary in real life seemed quite different from the friendly, spunky role she played on the radio, just as her husband truly was about as far removed from the cowardly, self-centered miser he played on the show as humanly possible. According to Burns, she wanted all the things her friends had, but more and bigger, and had a tendency to demand immediate service when going into a busy salon or department store. At times, wrote Burns, when she acted too entitled, her friends would humble her by pretending she was selling them panty hose — reminding her that for all her airs, she had been a lowly lingerie salesgirl before she met Jack Benny. Jack and Mary adored each other, but their relationship was sometimes troubled by her vanity and his philandering. (Mary would later claim that Jack's famous gesture of putting his hand to his cheek began when she answered a phone call from one of his girlfriends and scratched his face shortly before a photo shoot.[1]) Her relationship with their adopted daughter, Joan, was often strained. In Sunday Nights at Seven (1990), her father's unfinished memoir that she completed with her own recollections, Joan Benny revealed she rarely felt close to her mother, and the two often argued, often at the instigation of Mary, whom her daughter has described as a deeply insecure woman. She had so many good qualities--her sense of humor, her generosity, her loyalty to her friends. She had a famous, successful, and adoring husband; she had famous, interesting, and amusing friends; she lived in luxury; she was a celebrity in her own right. In short, she had everything a woman could possibly want. When I think of her it's with sadness because I wish she could have enjoyed it all more.--Joan Benny, from Sunday Nights at Seven. Despite his affairs, Benny was so devoted to his wife that, prior to his death, he arranged to have a single red rose delivered to her every day for the rest of her life. After writing a biography of her husband, Mary Livingstone--whose surname is often spelled without the 'e,' as occurred with her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to radio--died from cardiovascular disease at her home in Holmby Hills, California on June 30, 1983--hours after receiving a visit from then-First Lady Nancy Reagan, as daughter Joan noted, where the two women enjoyed a private manicure appointment, and seven days after her 78th birthday. "The doctor said it was a heart attack," Joan wrote, "but I have always felt she just gradually faded out of life." Mary Livingstone was interred beside her husband in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
350. Sunday Nights at Seven! Podcast 4 JACK BENNY - 1937-10-24 - Jack Buys the Maxwell http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.78Mb) Description: Jack Benny's Maxwell - An antique 1923 Maxwell automobile owned by Jack Benny, the "Cheapest Man in the World" was used as a running gag on both radio (first appeared in 1937) and later on his TV comedy series THE JACK BENNY SHOW/CBS/1950-64. Jack insisted that he could always get a few more miles out of his beat up jalopy. But for all of his tinkering, the car usually drove for about 15 minutes at which time the radiator boiled over, forcing Jack to wait for the engine to cool down before moving along. Jack bought the car second-hand from a dealer called the Smiling Pilgrim. Once Jack saw his servant Rochester (Eddie Anderson) daintily sponging down the car. "For Heaven sake, Jack yelled "Why don't you use the garden hose on it?" Rochester answered, "Don't you remember the last time I used the hose on it, Boss? The fender fell off!" When the car's engine started on radio, the listening audience heard the rich asthmatic, wheezing and clinking mechanical sounds of an ancient automobile engine that was reluctant to start. Mel Blanc, (a.k.a. "the Man with a Thousand Voices"). first supplied the engine noises when the sound technician's machine failed on the air. Blanc's "P-tui, p-tui, b-lit, b-lit, p-tui" sputtering and chattering saved the skit. Jack Benny loved his impersonation of a rattletrap, coughing engine so much that he replaced the sound technicians with the talents of Mel Blanc. The black 1923 Maxwell convertible spoken of in Jack Benny's act is now on display at the Harrah National Auto Museum located at 10 Lake Street South in Reno, Nevada. License numbers seen through the years included 4X-88-61 (from a Feb. 1938 publicity photo), 269523, PU8054 and 12S9523. Mel Blanc resurrected the sounds of his sputtering Maxwell auto when he performed the voice of a remote-control vehicle that talked to three adventurous teenagers on the animated cartoon SPEED BUGGY/CBS/1973-74. [URL="http://thesmallhousehalfwayupinthenextblock.com/jackbe nny/JACK%20BENNY%20-%201938-05-15%20-%20Murder%20in%20the%20 Library.mp3"] JACK BENNY - 1938-05-15 - Murder in the Library.mp3[/URL] [URL="http://thesmallhousehalfwayupinthenextblock.com/jackbe nny/JACK%20BENNY%20-%201938-05-22%20-%20Tom%20Sawyer%201.mp3 "] JACK BENNY - 1938-05-22 - Tom Sawyer 1.mp3[/URL]
351. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1932-05-02 - Jack's First Show Ever! http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.65Mb) Description: The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, was a radio-TV comedy series which ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century comedy. With Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor, Benny came to radio on The Canada Dry Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsors General Tires, Jell-O and Grape Nuts. But in 1944, the practice of using the sponsor's name as the title faded out, and the show was then known as The Jack Benny Program. Lucky Strike was the radio sponsor from 1944 to the mid-1950s. The show returned to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948-49. There it stayed for the remainder of its radio run, which ended on May 22, 1955. CBS aired reruns of old radio episodes from 1956 to 1958 as The Best of Benny. To discuss episodes with me feel free to visit my forum thread on Jack Benny at [url]http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=1530 09.[/url]
352. Podcast 3 JACK BENNY - 1937-06-20 - Eddie Anderson becomes Rochester - Jack's Movie http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.14Mb) Description: First episode with Eddie Anderson as the character named "Rochester". Eddie Anderson biography part 2 Anderson's first appearance on the Jack Benny Show was on March 28, 1937. In this episode, Benny and his cast were traveling by train from Chicago back to California, and Anderson (unnamed) was cast as a redcap. Anderson's first interaction with Benny was at the station in Chicago while they were boarding the train. On one of their two jokes, Benny said, "Here you are, redcap, here's fifty cents." Anderson replied, "This is a dime!" and Benny replied, "Look at your script, not the coin!" Benny later had an interaction with a different actor on the train, who laughed when Jack asked about when they would arrive in Albuquerque (indicating he had never heard of the place). In later years, Benny and Anderson referenced this conversation as having been between the two of them, and Anderson quipped, "Now if you'll give me my tip, I'll go home to my family." Anderson appeared acting as Benny's valet on the June 20, 1937 show, and from that point onward, he appeared intermittently in that role. However, it would be several years before he would be mentioned at the start of the program as part of the cast. Movies In addition to his role with Benny, Anderson appeared in over sixty motion pictures, including Uncle Peter in Gone with the Wind, Cabin in the Sky, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He reprises his Rochester role in Topper Returns, this time as Cosmo Topper's valet (though he jokes about 'Mr. Benny' in the film). Thoroughbred horse racing Anderson owned Burnt Cork, a Thoroughbred racehorse that ran in the 1943 Kentucky Derby. Death He died in 1977 due to heart disease at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles, California.[1][2] Legacy Anderson was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001. References 1. ^ "Eddie Anderson, 71, Benny's Rochester. Gravel-Voiced Comedian Noted for 'What's That, Boss?' Line Played Valet for More Than 30 Years.", New York Times (March 1, 1977). Retrieved on 2008-05-24. "Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, the gravel voiced comedian who played Jack Benny's valet for more than 30 years, died yesterday at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 71 years old and had been under treatment for a heart ailment since December." 2. ^ "Died", Time (magazine) (March 14, 1977). Retrieved on 2008-05-24. "Eddie Anderson, 71, who played the late Jack Benny's hoarse, heckling valet Rochester on radio, TV and film for more than 30 years; of heart disease; in Los Angeles. In 1937, Anderson made what was supposed to be a one-shot appearance on the Benny broadcast; the audience loved his drollery, and he became a member of the cast. Anderson constantly deflated Benny's pomposity with a high-pitched, incredulous, "What's that, boss?""
353. The Jack Benny Show: Podcast 2! 1937-05-02 - Buck Benny Party http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.73Mb) Description: Second episode featuring Eddie Anderson. This episode also celebrates Jack's 5th year in radio. This weeks featured player is Andy Devine. He was featured in over 75 episodes! Andy Devine From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Andy Devine Born Andrew Vabre Devine October 7, 1905(1905-10-07) Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S. Died February 18, 1977 (aged 71) Orange, California, U.S. For the Emmerdale actor, see Andy Devine (actor). Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine (October 7, 1905 - February 18, 1977) was a rotund, raspy-voiced American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick. Life and work Born in Flagstaff, Arizona on October 7, 1905, Andy Devine grew up in nearby Kingman, where his family moved when he was a year old. His father was Thomas Devine Jr., born in 1869 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Andy's grandfather, Thomas Devine Sr., was born in 1842 in Tipperary County, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States in 1852. Andy's mother was Amy Ward, the granddaughter of Commander James H. Ward, the first officer of the United States Navy killed during the Civil War. He was a star football player at Ball State University. He also played semi-professional football under the pseudonym "Jeremiah Schwartz" -- it was not his birth name as has been erroneously reported elsewhere. His football experience led to his first film role in the silent film The Fighting Football Cardinals.[citation needed] It was in 1933 on a John Ford directed picture at Universal Studios, "Doctor Bull", that Andy met his wife, Dorothy House. They were married on October 28, 1933, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and remained united until his death on February 18, 1977. Although it was at first thought that his peculiar voice would prevent him from moving to the talkies, it became his trademark and strongest selling point. Devine told people that his speech was the result of a childhood accident. (His story is that he had been running with a curtain rod in his mouth and fell, the instrument piercing the roof of his mouth, and when he was finally able to speak, he had the wheezing, duo-tone voice that would make him famous as an actor.) However, a biographer explains that this wasn't true but was one of several stories about his voice fabricated by Devine.[1] Devine's son Tad told an Encore Westerns Channel interviewer (Jim Beaver, reporting from 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival)that the accident had indeed happened but that Andy Devine himself was uncertain whether it was the actual cause of his unique vocal quality. Film, radio, and television He appeared in more than 400 films and shared with Walter Brennan, another character actor, the rare ability to move with ease from "B" Westerns to "A" pictures. His notable roles included ten films as sidekick "Cookie" to Roy Rogers, a role in Romeo and Juliet (1937), and "Danny" in A Star Is Born (1937). He made several appearances in films with John Wayne, including Stagecoach (1939), Island in the Sky (1953), and as the frightened marshal in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also played "The Cheerful Soldier" in The Red Badge of Courage and the First Mate of the S.S. Henrietta in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). While most of his characters were reluctant to get involved in the action, he played the hero in Island in the Sky, as an expert pilot who leads his fellow aviators through the arduous search for a missing airplane. His film appearances in his later years included movies such as The Over-the-Hill Gang, and "Coyote Bill" in Myra Breckinridge. Devine also worked in radio. He is well-remembered for his role as "Jingles", Guy Madison's sidekick in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, which Devine and Madison reprised on television. He appeared over 75 times on Jack Benny's radio show between 1936 and 1942, often appearing in Benny's semi-regular western series of sketches "Buck Benny Rides Again". And Devine worked in television. He played "Hap" on the TV series Flipper and hosted a children's TV show, Andy's Gang. He starred in a Twilight Zone episode as "Frisby", a talkative fibster faced with an alien invasion called "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby". He was also a frequent guest star in many television shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, Devine performed voice parts in animated films, including "Friar Tuck" in Disney's Robin Hood. He provided the voice of Cornelius the Rooster in several Kellogg's Corn Flakes TV commercials. In 1973, Devine came to Monroe, Louisiana at the request of George C. Brian, an actor and filmmaker who headed the theater department at a Louisiana university, to perform in Edna Ferber's Show Boat. Devine died of leukemia on February 18, 1977, at the age of 71, in Orange, California. The main street of his home town of Kingman was renamed "Andy Devine Avenue" in his honor. His career is also highlighted in the Mohave Museum of History and Arts in Kingman, and there is a star in his honor in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Quotation * When asked if he had strange nodes on his vocal cords, Devine replied, "I've got the same nodes as Bing Crosby, but his are in tune."
354. The Jack Benny Show Podcast 1! 1937-03-28 - A Train Trip to Los Angeles http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.26Mb) Description: First episode featuring Eddie "Rochester" Anderson! Eddie Anderson Biography Part 1 Eddie Anderson (comedian) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Birth name Edmund Lincoln Anderson Born September 18, 1905(1905-09-18) Oakland, California, USA Died February 28, 1977 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California, USA Show The Jack Benny Program Station(s) NBC, CBS Style Comedian Country United States Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977), often known as Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, was an American comic actor who became famous playing "Rochester van Jones" (usually known simply as "Rochester"), the valet to Jack Benny's eponymous title character on the long-running radio and television series The Jack Benny Program. Birth and early career He was born in Oakland, California, USA on September 18, 1905 into a family of performers, Anderson began his show business career at age 14 in a song-and-dance act with his brother Cornelius and another performer. They billed themselves as the Three Black Aces. At a young age, Anderson permanently damaged his vocal cords (he had to yell loudly for his job selling newspapers), leading to his trademark "raspy" voice. Benny's ordering of his "valet" and Anderson's responses (sometimes a resigned "Yes, Boss", but just as often a snappy joke at Benny's expense) were among the weekly highlights of the long-running show. Anderson's role as a servant was common for Black leads in the popular media of that era, such as Ethel Waters in Beulah. The stereotyping of Blacks (or any ethnic group) had been standard practice in the entertainment business for generations. The relationship between Anderson and Benny became more complex and intimate as the years went by, with Rochester's role becoming both less stereotypical (in early episodes he carried a switchblade and shot craps) and less subservient (though he remained a valet), reflecting changing social attitudes toward Blacks. According to Jack Benny's posthumous autobiography, Sunday Nights at Seven, the tone of racial humor surrounding Rochester declined as a conscious decision between Benny and the writing staff during World War II, once the enormity of the Holocaust was revealed. In short, Benny didn't find such humor funny anymore, and he made an effort to erase it from the character of Rochester. The high esteem in which the two actors held each other was evident upon Benny's death in 1974, in which a tearful Anderson, interviewed for television, spoke of Benny with admiration and respect. Benny was often protective of Anderson, and this led to conflict. For instance, in World War II, Benny toured with his show, but Rochester did not, because discrimination in the armed forces would have required separate living quarters. Interestingly, though, during performances of the radio program staged before armed forces audiences at bases and military hospitals, the appearance of Rochester routinely drew enthusiastic applause that arguably often outstripped that received by other members of the cast. Stateside, a similar incident was defused by Benny when, according to reporter Fredric W. Slater, Rochester was denied a room at the hotel that Benny and his staff were planning to staying in Saint Joseph, Missouri. When it was announced that Anderson could not stay there, Benny replied "If he doesn't stay here, neither do I." The hotel eventually allowed Anderson to remain as a guest. Even though some of the humor was stereotypical, it was always done so that the racial element of the joke came from Anderson and no one else. For instance, when Jack takes a vacation, he takes Rochester along; but as a guest, not a servant, because Jack drives just as often as Rochester does. When they get to Yosemite to go skiing, Jack says "Don't wander off now, you're not used to being in the woods, you'll get lost in all the snow." Rochester replies "Who me?" Thus the race element of the joke was provided by Anderson. Among the most highly-paid performers of his time, Anderson invested wisely and became extremely wealthy. Despite this, he was so strongly identified with the "Rochester" role that many listeners of the radio program mistakenly persisted in the belief that he was Benny's actual valet. One such listener drove Benny to distraction when he sent a scolding letter to Benny concerning Rochester's alleged pay, and then sent another letter to Anderson, which urged him to sue Benny. A similar letter came from a correspondent in the South who was angered that on an episode of the radio show where Benny was sparring with Anderson, that Benny allowed himself to be struck by Anderson. Benny retorted in a letter that it would not have been humorous the other way around.